Postgame Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Wednesday, May 3, 2023
OL REIGN vs. ANGEL CITY FC
POSTGAME QUOTES
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On how the defense played tonight:
“I thought they were solid. I thought (defender) Ryanne (Brown) and (defender) Shae (Holmes) were really good. Obviously, we expect high standards from (defender Sam Hiatt) Sammy and (defender) Sofia (Huerta) because of the amount of games they’ve played. Yeah, I thought they were great. I thought (goalkeeper) Laurel (Ivory) made some good saves.”
On not scoring a goal tonight:
“I think, obviously, the players playing together for the first time, I think that’s a big part of it. I also think we haven’t trained, like we literally do matchday minus one, game, recover. I don’t think we’ve trained properly since the FIFA break because we’ve just had an absolutely ridiculous schedule. So, I think that was what you could see tonight, especially when you’re doing a rotation, that team needs to train and we just are not in a position to train. So, I think that that’s an impact on our fluidity, if you’d like. But, I think, technically, we gave the ball away sloppy in the areas where we shouldn’t have done to, which it’s hard to get a rhythm when that’s happened as well.”
On being in a good place in the standings for the regular season and UKG Challenge Cup through a tough schedule:
“Well, we’ve obviously got another big test on Saturday and I think we have to get through that, honestly. I think that it’s going to be a tough game with, again, all the things I’ve just said: travel, training, the condensed schedule and this is sort of the end of it for a little bit, two weeks or whatever it is, then we can actually one, rest and recover and then train for like, I think we have two training sessions before we go to North Carolina, which we haven’t had, so I think that that will be a good opportunity for us. But yeah, it’s a fine balance between giving people a rest and to getting them recovered to also then link into training. But, I think when we played away in LA, it was probably similar, obviously we scored the first goal off a mistake from their goalkeeper and the other one was a set piece. So, tonight could have been exactly the same, but then we go out in Chicago and everything looks great, so I think we know we can do it, we just have to knuckle down and dig in and come up with a performance on Saturday to get a result. I think it shows the quality and depth of our group that we are where we are because not only are we doing it with such a condensed schedule, we’re doing it without some really key players as well. So, credit to the group, proud of their work ethic and their digging in. The greatest thing about this group is, after Chicago, they weren’t happy after, Louisville they weren’t happy and obviously tonight, they weren’t happy, so I think we want to try and put on a performance that we’re proud of. But ultimately, if we can get three points against Houston, then we set ourselves up from what’s been a really, really difficult schedule to then be able to sort of fine-tune some things, but we’re definitely not going to have time to do that before Houston.”
On if it was part of the plan to play goalkeepers Claudia Dickey and Laurel Ivory in each of the Challenge Cup games:
“The plan was always that they would split the games and that they will continue to split the games in the Challenge Cup because they need that opportunity. I’ve said it a lot that we have a really high-level quality – all three of our goalkeepers are really high-level quality and I’m so glad that they’re getting to show that in the Challenge Cup because we need them to be able to continue to develop and these games are a good opportunity for that.”
On forward Olivia Athens:
“I thought we could have got her on the ball a little bit more in the first half and (forward Olivia Athens) Liv is a super intelligent player – excellent on the ball, can really cause opponents problems. I thought she did well and I think we need to continue to keep developing her because she’s going to be a huge part to play for us during the World Cup, I think.”
On defender Sam Hiatt:
“Yeah, Sam’s been excellent and we played her in a different role tonight, playing on the right, it’s a little bit different, different pictures for her. Sam’s been tremendous. I think I said a while back, when we did the trade for (defender Emily) Sonnett, you could have seen someone like Sam shrink and let Sonnett take over and she didn’t do that, which has been massive because we’ve needed Sonnett in a different position and I think Sam’s performances so far this season have been exceptional.”
On how Holmes and Ivory performed tonight:
“Shae was excellent – very, very good. She’s someone that I have high hopes for. I think she has huge potential. I think she’s had huge injury issues prior to turning pro, so we know that this year, we’ve got the biggest aim for Shae is to get her minutes whenever we possibly can but to keep her healthy and fit and strong and keep pushing her forward because, I’ve said this publicly a lot, I had the chance to work with Shae when I was the (USWNT) U-20 coach and she was exceptional then and since then, she’s had big injuries. But obviously I kept an eye on her career and when she was coming back and I believe she has a huge future, either as a left-sided center back or as a left back, moving forward. Yeah, I thought she was great. Laurel, obviously huge save towards the end of the game against (Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill) Sav. Yeah, it’s hard talking about Laurel and Claudia because obviously it’s – when everyone’s seeing them for the first time, it’s quite surprising to everyone, but we see them every day, so it’s not shocking to us at all. I’m really glad that both of them were able to get a clean sheet in the games that they’ve played. I challenge both of them that they were going to rotate throughout the Challenge Cup and if one of them stood out, then they would take the lead and I think both of them, in the away game in LA, I thought (goalkeeper) Claudia (Dickey) was great and I thought Laurel was excellent tonight.”
OL Reign Goalkeeper Laurel Ivory and Forward Tziarra King
On her thoughts from her NWSL debut:
Laurel Ivory: “Obviously, there were a lot of nerves surrounding today but at the same time, I just felt really good because my team was so excited for me to get this opportunity. I knew they had my back in whatever was going to happen. So, that kind of gave me the ability to just play freely and it’s a 90 minute game and I was like, I’ve got to lock on for 90 minutes so, don’t do much but that’s my job – stay in it the whole entire time. So yeah, it was fun. I had a really good time today.”
On the intensity of the game:
Tziarra King: “I think with our team, we always anticipate that. We don’t ever anticipate ending a game 0-0, we don’t ever want to end the game 0-0. I think with the threats that we have on the field, any moment could be a game-changing goal scoring opportunity. We always kind of have that belief.”
On the defensive strength tonight:
Laurel Ivory: “I think every single person on this team is capable of playing at the highest level. I have so much trust in (defender) Shae (Holmes), I have so much trust in (defender) Ryanne (Brown), they prove it every single day in training. I think that’s the beauty about being at this club is that, every single day we’re playing against the best in this league, so you can’t let up every single day and I think that just proved how our trainings go. Today, how they played, I thought they were unbelievable.”
On defender Ryanne Brown’s clearance on the line:
Laurel Ivory: “I saw the ball coming in and I was like – oh, great, I’m going to go for it and then (Angel City FC forward) Katie Johnson just kind of came out of nowhere and I got some little fingertips to it and then I was just so thankful Ryanne was there. I thought it was unreal. I quickly looked at the replay and I was like, not a chance that’s in. I owe her a lot. I should probably buy her like a week’s worth of coffee next week. That was great, she did her job.”
On having multiple three-game weeks at the beginning of the season:
Tziarra King: “I think that’s a question that we will answer at the end of the year and let you know [laughs]. I don’t really know. I think, right now, it feels terrible.”
Laurel Ivory: “It also doesn’t help that we have some injuries, but we still have that depth to do it. It was a long pre-season and then to jump into this but at the same time, I think it’s like – it would be a long season to jump into all these three-game weeks, so it’s just, pick your poison.”
On how OL Reign approached the game defensively after Angel City FC scored three goals in their previous game:
Tziarra King: “I think we’ve got to give a lot of credit to (Head Coach) Laura (Harvey). She had a very sound game plan and I think she knew exactly what their threats were and we were prepared. I think with the game plan and with the performances that people put out today, we can be happy with that. We want the win, always, but it was a good building opportunity.”
On how the start of the season feels:
Tziarra King: “I think it’s nice. It’s a long season. The reality is, we just have to keep building and getting better and learning from the performances. We’re not like, yeah this is great – we’re just like, OK, this is what happened, what’s next? I think that’s just the mentality we have to just keep going with because if not, like I said, it’s a long season, it’s going to get wild out here.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Wednesday, May 3, 2023