Postgame Press Conference Quotes (at NJ/NY) • 4-1-23
Head Coach Laura Harvey, Forward Bethany Balcer and Midfielder Jess Fishlock
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On the team’s performance tonight:
“Yeah, I thought it was good. Overall, really happy. I think clean sheets are huge in this league. I thought we played some good stuff at times, showed the true team that we believe we can be at times. Yeah, obviously overall happy with getting three points.”
On midfielder Jess Fishlock being the first player to score in every NWSL regular season since 2013:
“Yeah, she’s just, she’s class. She’s class. She embodies everything that we want to be at this club and she has a really big football brain. She understands what she needs to do and what everyone else needs to do, which enables her to impact games the way that she does and get in positions to punish teams. We played her a little higher tonight, with that in mind and obviously she got the goal and could’ve had more with the chance that she had on the volley off (Gotham FC goalkeeper) Abby (Smith). Yeah, proud of her. Not overly surprised, but I think that when someone can come to a foreign country and play in a league that’s so competitive for so long and be able to produce the levels that she’s produced, she deserves way more plaudits than she probably gets and I think age is but a number with her. She’s been excellent all preseason and I’m glad that she can get this sort of recognition tonight of getting this accomplishment.”
On her decision for the starting lineup:
“I thought (midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt) Olo was excellent and (midfielder) Rose (Lavelle), yes, she played as a wide player in the defensive structure of the team, but she was free to go wherever she wanted when we had the ball and I think you saw that on the goal. Yes, she’s in sort of the inside pocket, but she’s not really wide. Her link up with (defender) Sofia (Huerta) was good and I think whenever you can get Rose in that position, running at back lines more often than possible as much as possible, it’s going to be beneficial and I thought our strategy was to try and isolate (Gotham FC midfielder) Allie Long and with (midfielder) Jess (Fishlock) and Rose either side of her and I thought that it worked really well in the first half. I thought they got a lot of joy doing that. We were able to do that by having (defender Emily) Sonnett and Olo behind the ball to give us that solid midfield behind the ball, it would just be able to feed those two. So yeah, it worked. It doesn’t always, but it did tonight.”
On forward Bethany Balcer playing on the left side and what the game plan was:
“Try and get on the end of Sofia’s cross. We didn’t get too much of that, but that was – honestly, the game plan was, we could have played Rose on the left, but we knew if we could get some success of getting Sofia on the ball higher up the field and she could cross, and she had a lot of opportunities to do that last week, then there’s no better connection than (forward Bethany) Balcer and Sofia. So, that was the brains behind that decision.”
On staying in New Jersey for the week and if that had any impact on the team’s performance:
“Yeah, I think so. I actually thought that we felt okay in the Washington game. But I mean, I don’t want to keep talking about it – the field was just absolutely atrocious, whereas today obviously, the field was great. We’ve been here since Monday, so we were used to it. We sacrificed a few things by staying here, where we couldn’t train privately, so we gave that up. We have to come over here and people can see what we’re doing, so we sort of took that sacrifice to stay on the East Coast. But I thought that, honestly, I thought the biggest difference between last week’s game and this week’s game was the field. Both these teams want to play and we could play on it. So, do I think that staying on the East Coast impacted it? I’d hope so. We obviously spent a lot of money doing it and there’s a real reason behind it. But truly, I think the field was the big impact on the performance.”
On if she told the team anything during the weather delay or if every player is on their own:
“Honestly, every person for themselves and the hardest part is, it’s not like we know when it’s going to happen, when it’s going to end. We’re constantly in this like, 30 minutes and then 30 minutes and then 30 minutes and that’s the hardest part. They do whatever they need to do like, Rose was reading a book, (forward Megan Rapinoe) Pinoe’s listening and dancing to music and keeping everyone in it. Some people are playing cards like, everyone does their own thing, really. So, we sort of, when we know that there are 10 minutes to go before we’re about to go out, we sort of switch everyone back into gear. And yeah, I thought we came out strong on the front foot, so we’re probably annoyed more about the delay, which I think triggers performance, too.”
On containing Gotham’s attack and not allowing a shot on goal:
“Yeah, I think, on the ball ability has to be our reason for making it difficult for the opponent. But I thought when we were caught and we got caught a couple of times giving the ball away or we were out of shape for a little bit, I thought (defender) Alana (Cook) and (defender) Sam (Hiatt) and (defender Lauren Barnes) Lu and (defender Sofia Huerta) Sof, I thought they were excellent. I think, when you’re playing against the likes of (Gotham FC forward) Lynn (Williams) and (Gotham FC forward) Midge (Purce) and (Gotham FC midfielder) Kristie (Mewis) and (Gotham FC midfielder) Victoria Pickett and those types of players who can really change games in an instance, you’ve just got to be on the front foot and you’ve got to be really determined to put your body on the line when it matters and I feel like they did that. I think Alana is Alana, she’s world class, in my opinion. But I think a special shout-out, probably, to Sam Hiatt. I thought last week she was exceptional. She’s been excellent in preseason and another solid performance by her again.”
Forward Bethany Balcer and Midfielder Jess Fishlock
On being the first player to score in every season:
Jess Fishlock: “Thank you very much. I just saw that briefly whilst I checked my phone real fast. So, that’s pretty cool, obviously. I’m sure there will be more people that will hit that throughout the year but yeah, a little bit of history, I’ll take that [laughs].”
On stopping Gotham’s attack:
Bethany Balcer: “Just as many threats as they have, I think we have threats defensively. I would take anyone of our back six against any of those players and I think that’s what’s so special about this group is that those players step up when they need to. It’s our job to put balls in the back of the net and it’s their job to keep it out. So, I think as a collective, we do a really good job of that. Even when the game can get ugly, we really learn how to come together as a collective and make sure the ball stays out of our net.”
Jess Fishlock: “I think also that a lot of people have this kind of opinion of our team and this kind of attacking-possession based team, which obviously we are, but actually, one of our biggest priorities is controlling the game defensively. We work on that a lot and we have, like (Forward Bethany Balcer) Boats said, we have such good defenders with such amazing attributes that really complement each other and so we trust them in those 1-v-1 duals. Obviously, I feel like Gotham are very 1-v-1 individual, kind of attacking threats, (Gotham FC) Midge (Purce) is going at you, (Gotham FC forward) Lynn (Williams) is going at you and as dangerous as those players are, we trust our defenders that they will be able to kind of deal with that in the way that we need them to. And today, you saw that – not forgetting (Defender Emily Sonnett) Sonn and (Midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt) Olo, who I thought were fantastic today, too, picking up first and second balls. It really is a collective effort but when it comes down to those individual moments, we just have great, great defenders.”
On spending the week in New Jersey:
Jess Fishlock: “Honestly, it’s not fun, I’m just being honest with you. Going away on the East Coast and then staying for a week in a hotel, it can sound luxurious, but it’s not. I think that you can easily get to the game today where you’re also in a weather delay and by the time kickoff comes, you’re absolutely starving. You can easily be like, I’m over this, I’m over this and it would be completely justified if we wouldn’t come to that space because it’s a long [time], it’s eight days on the road, time change, we’re in D.C., then we’re here. So, credit to this group for kind of just sticking with it, sticking at it, responding to the result that we had last week that we didn’t think was justified. We felt like we deserved something from that game. So, to bring the energy and the attitude and the mentality to this game and goals, clean sheets, it really does speak to the group that we have and hopefully, we can use this week and this game to really kind of keep that level and don’t drop.”
On if she would have rather gone home for the week:
Jess Fishlock: “Well yeah, it’s the right call to stick around. Flying back there and flying back is also not fun. We have no fun options here, lose-lose. So, the shorter was the right decision but that doesn’t make it fun.”
Bethany Balcer: “We never have to do it again this season. We got it out of the way [laughs].”
On if the team did anything fun during the weather delay:
Bethany Balcer: “We were so bored and we started playing this game that I’ve been playing but then we have Lacrosse balls and you know how there is a game – when people take ping pong balls on a table and they bounce them and you’ve got to bounce it once and then twice and then three times, so there were four groups of people with Lacrosse balls, bouncing the ball back and forth for probably fifteen, twenty minutes and then the hunger kicked in and then we all just got hangry. It was hard to pass the time.”
Jess Fishlock: “It was tough times in there. It was like the Hunger Games, literally [laughs].”
On having 39 goals all-time and if there are any favorite memories that stick out to her:
Jess Fishlock: “Well, obviously, from a longevity point of view, I’m probably more proud of myself for being able to still be at this level for such a long time than I am at kind of a lot of things, just because this game can be so unforgiving, it is so difficult and it’s a real [challenge], adding international onto that and it just really is relentless. I actually am just more proud of the fact that I just still enjoy it. I’m doing it because I enjoy it, which is great for me because I’m still here, I’m still having fun and I’m still enjoying it and everything else that comes with it is just kind of an added bonus. My favorite goal will always be home to Sky Blue in 2015, last game of the regular season. I tied it with a header in the pouring rain, it was like a movie scene. It kept our unbeaten – we were unbeaten for two years at home and it kept that record. So, that is my all-time favorite Reign goal, nothing will ever compete to it but also on top of that, scored a couple of bangers against Portland, which were nice. But honestly, even the goal today – the team ones are my favorite, to get four or five people in, all at perfect timing, in sync, I don’t think people realize how hard that is to do. So, I enjoy those ones as well.”
On being the last team to have a home game in 2023:
Bethany Balcer: “Oh, yeah, we’re very excited about it. I almost had to break my Twitter fast and go on and let the league know how upset I was that we still haven’t had one and everyone else has. But yeah, I think I speak for everyone when we say that Lumen was so much fun to play at last year; the atmosphere was incredible and it obviously grew as the season wore on, so super excited to play in front of a home crowd, to not be on the road. Yeah, we’re very excited, but we’ve got to wait a little bit for it, two weeks still, but that’s OK. We’re ready. Hope the fans are. More goals.”
On playing on the left side of the field:
Bethany Balcer: “Yeah, I’m kind of just like go wherever the (head coach Laura Harvey) Harves needs me, that’s where I want to be. Yeah, little different on the left side today. I had very specific things I had to do and hopefully I did them. Yeah, it was pretty clear, cut and dry of what my instructions were and when they’re like that, it makes it easy to do that. But obviously, it’s easy playing next to players like [Jess Fishlock], who just makes the game flow really well. Yeah, it definitely was a different look, but I enjoyed it, obviously scored so that’s super hype [laughs]. So yeah, as long as I’m putting the ball in the back of the net, I don’t care where I’m playing.”
Jess Fishlock: “One thing you’ll always get with Bethany ‘Boats’ Balcer is goals. It is guaranteed goals. It doesn’t matter where she plays, she’s going to score and when you have someone on your team where your team knows that, it’s nice.”
Download Quotes Here: Postgame Press Conference • 4-1-23