Pre-Match Press Conference (vs. HOU) • Friday, May 5, 2023
OL Reign Pre-Match Press Conference • Friday, May 5, 2023
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Forward Veronica Latsko
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On facing Houston Dash head coach Sam Laity:
“Yeah, excited to see him, I haven’t seen him for a while. His team has had a good start, I think they’ve been solid, so it’s going to be a difficult opponent for us and we’ve got to be prepared to come out and try and dominate the game. But yeah, excited to see him.”
On what the team is working on to stop the Houston Dash attack:
“I think we just have to be good on both sides of the ball. I think the last couple of games, we’ve been not as dominant as we would like to be on certain aspects of the game, so I think tomorrow is a chance for us to put that right, obviously a clean sheet against Angel City (FC) was great, but we weren’t great going forward and then obviously in Louisville, we conceded goals, which we always struggle when we do that – we want to try and nullify that as much as we can. So, I think we’ve identified some things that we think we can do to try and expose some of the things that Houston try and do. But I think for us, we’ve just got to try and get the basics of who we are and how we defend and how we play right and stamp our authority on the game.”
On what the team does to prepare for games with limited time to train:
“I mean, we do a lot of film activity. We do a lot of walk-through stuff that doesn’t take a lot of physical load through the players and we got a good matchday minus one training session in today. So, I think we’ve had enough time to review Angel City to do game plan for Houston and we just don’t have enough time to really execute in training the things that we think are going to work against Houston. So, we have to sort of game plan within the game a little bit and see how things go, but we’re used to it now, sort of on a role with it.”
On if everyone came out of the previous game healthy:
“Yeah, everyone came out of Wednesday OK, which is obviously a positive.”
On if there is any injury update on defender Phoebe McClernon:
“No update. Really, I think it’s an injury that’s a tough one to really get a return to play on, right now. I think we’re doing a little bit more investigating around it. But yeah, no defined date right now.”
On if there is any injury update on midfielder Angelina:
“Yeah, she’s just coming through the ACL recovery, return to play process, but she’s back training with the team now. She’s allowed to do contact, but you have to do that for a while before you can even consider doing games, so she’s probably – I don’t want to put a date on it, but were a while until you see (midfielder) Angelina on the field.”
Forward Veronica Latsko
On her thoughts before the game against Houston Dash and head coach Sam Laity:
“Honestly, we love (Houston Dash head coach) Sam (Laity) to death, but we’ve done inter squads all the time last year and we would play against – it would be Sam against (head coach) Laura (Harvey). So, it’s not too weird having Sam – playing against him or the idea of playing against Sam. He’s very competitive and we’re very competitive when we play with him and against him.”
On Houston’s defense:
“I think that we’re pretty ready for either a three-back or a four-back. I think, given the teams that we’ve played thus far, we’ve seen both and we’ve played against both. I think each presents its own challenge but also each presents its own opportunity to exploit those types of systems and we’re really excited about it.”
On having three games in a week and how the team is preparing mentally and physically:
“I was just joking with one of our assistant coaches, I was like, ‘Wow, every training has felt like a matchday minus one training’. We’ve just not been able to train and it’s a little frustrating, especially as someone who loves training. We’re really fortunate that we have a really deep squad and it’s good for us because we can rotate so many players and the quality doesn’t diminish, which is great. I think we’ve shown that in the last three-game week that we played – how much we needed that rotation and how much we were able to do it and still put the same kind of quality and get the same results out on the field. I think you’ll see the same thing tomorrow, for us.”
On what the team is working on to score more goals:
“I think, one, it’s just kind of keeping the ball and having that composure in the final third. So, we’re able to get it up there but it’s just having that finesse while we’re up there and being able to connect with players in front of goal, whether that’s better-quality crosses or better-quality finishes. But yeah, having that quality in and around the box is going to be pretty vital for us, especially against Houston, who has historically, especially last year, has made the most of their opportunities when they get their chances. We just need to be the same and we need to be ruthless.”
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