Pre-Match Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Friday, May 26, 2023
OL Reign Pre-Match Press Conference • Friday, May 26, 2023
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Midfielder Nikki Stanton
On Angel City FC being strong on the road:
Laura Harvey: “I think Angel City are a good team. I think that they are solid. I think they try and play good football. I think you saw last week in North Carolina that they just stayed in the game. I think they have a bit of a mentality of staying in it, which helps when you’re on the road because it can be tough. So yeah, I think that is a big indicator for them.”
On how defender Phoebe McClernon is doing with her injury:
“She’s doing well, but she’s not in training, no.”
On how the team is feeling going into this game:
Nikki Stanton: “I think, as a player, it’s good to kind of get a clump of losses out of the way because now we really have to focus on all the little things and make sure that we’re doing everything that we need to be doing. This team is super special, we’ve all just kind of done some inflection and reflection, we’ve come here and we’ve all come together, like (midfielder) Jess (Fishlock) said after the last game, and we’re going into this weekend with just a lot of fight and a lot of energy.”
On forward Bethany Balcer and how she has played as a midfielder:
Laura Harvey: “I think she’s always, honestly, been this way since (former OL Reign Head Coach) Vlatko (Andonovski) was here. Then when I first came back, I think, we know (forward Bethany Balcer) Boats has the ability to score goals. I think in this team, it’s trying to get her in positions where she can help the team to get there, to get in positions to score goals. But also, I think, obviously, we have a lot of depth in midfield, a lot of it is lower down in the midfield – sort of that attacking midfielder presence is, obviously with (midfielder) Rose’s (Lavelle) injury and (midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt) Olo not being available for a little bit, it has been tough, but I thought she’s done a good job of taking that on. I think her development is that she can play in multiple positions, always has been able to, but we’re trying to make sure that we don’t just lose what is her best quality, which is putting the ball in the back of the net.”
On the team’s mentality:
Nikki Stanton: “I think that this team is extremely special and when we came back into training, everyone just kind of had – we were pretty serious, we needed to have good chat, but our first training back, we were like – had a lot of energy, we were working really hard and I think just kind of coming together, like I’ve said before, but it’s super important and it’s going to take a lot bigger of a challenge to get in between this team and this locker room.”
Laura Harvey: “I’ll just add to that – I think, we have a lot of players in this team that have played in this league for a long time, who know what it takes to bounce back from tough losses. I think it’s been a long time since we’ve had back-to-back losses. So, all those records are there, all those stats are there to always be broken and unfortunately, some stats you don’t want to break but they get broken and that was one of them. But I do believe that after this week, the way that the team has been approaching things – our mentality, our ideas around what we need to do to be good on the field, not just in tomorrow’s game but moving forward, have taken on another level, this week. I think, like (midfielder) Nikki (Stanton) says, we are and always have been a place where, when we need to be serious, we’re serious, when we’re out on the field, we love what we’re doing because why would you not enjoy doing this job? So, we have to continue to keep that joy involved in what we’re trying to do and also, keep pushing each other to be better. I think that this group, specifically this Reign group we have right now, does a really good job of pushing each other every day.”
On Angel City being a team that crosses the ball a lot and how the team is preparing to stop that kind of attack:
Laura Harvey: “Honestly, that’s sort of the way we play too, so we play against that every day. So, I don’t think we have to really change too much. I think we just have to be aware that that can potentially happen and obviously we’ve played them twice already in the Challenge Cup, which is maybe slightly different, but I think we’ve both respected each other in those games, started and given players opportunities to have minutes, but everybody has been involved in those games on both sides. So, I think we’ve had a good glimpse of what threats they have and what problems they could cause us, which is great in preparation for tomorrow.”
On Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill:
Nikki Stanton: “I think she’s a very talented player and I’ve gotten the chance to play with her and against her and I think she’s just someone that you always have to know where she is and give her a little bump every now and then, in my opinion [laughs]. But yeah, I do think she’s kind of a player that kind of goes anywhere she wants and it’s either someone knowing exactly where she is or passing her on to someone else, just all the time.”
Download here: Pre-Match Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Friday, May 26, 2023