SEATTLE REIGN FC at KANSAS CITY CURRENT POSTGAME QUOTES
Sunday, June 9, 2024 • CPKC Stadium • Kansas City, MO
Seattle Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey
On what gave the team the most trouble and what she was hoping to get out of the first three subs – Lauren Barnes, Ji So-Yun and Olivia Van der Jagt:
“Yeah, I thought in the first half, we actually did some really good stuff. We had chances to score, obviously scored two goals. Again, I think we shoot ourselves in the foot, a corner coming in, it can’t drop in the six-yard box and someone be able to volley the ball that close to goal. It’s just not acceptable. And to concede so close to halftime was tough. I said to the players at the end of the game, I think I just saw 90 seconds of madness in the start of the second half, just changed the trajectory of the game immediately. So, the three changes were to try and change the game a little bit. Phoebe had to come off. She had a little issue, so that wasn’t really planned, but we were planning on doing an attacking sub, but we had to change. So yeah, I think we just, again, caused us our own problems – that 90 seconds at the start of the second half just changed the idea of the game immediately. I think they had five shots on goal and scored five goals. That’s just not acceptable for us.”
On if this is something that can be corrected in training:
“Yeah, I think we’ve worked for two weeks on the things that we’ve conceded goals off again today – crosses, defending inside our own box – I think the players are really doubting themselves at times. So, we’ve got to try and turn that around.”
On how she balances fixing issues while also building confidence in the players:
“Yeah, it’s a hard balance. I actually felt like training had been really good. I felt like we turned a corner. The hard thing is, when that sort of goal goes in – honestly, the corner, I think the corner was a start to it – the first goal to, very similar to Orlando, Washington goals, all the work that you sort of been doing you can just see the players’ confidence drain out of them and that’s something that we’ve got to address and we’ve got to work through. But the harsh reality is, again I said this the last game, you can’t concede the amount of goals we’re conceding and expect to get results because outside of the corner and outside of the 90 seconds of madness, game is relatively even and I think they’re the things that we have to look at. Do I think that we played well after the fourth goal went in? Not really, we hung on. You could just see our confidence drained out of us. But I thought prior to the fourth goal, I thought in the first half we played some really good stuff and caused them a lot of problems. I thought what we’d set up, our game plan, when we were doing it, we created opportunities from it. But yeah, it’s a tough stretch for us right now because every time – like I say, they’ve had, it says they had seven shots on goal. I don’t remember that. It also says we didn’t hit the woodwork and we did. I’m just looking at the stats. We’ve had seven shots on goal, it says they have, but whatever. The stats are literally the same and we come out – Laurel didn’t make a save, really. That one in the first half on the 1-v-1 with Chawinga and that’s about it. So, I think we’ve got to look at that, we’ve got to continue to just keep working hard and I say to the players after every game, that’s what I give on credit, they always try and grind themselves through it.”
On how good it is to have Jordyn Huitema back and healthy:
“Yes, I thought she did great today. We didn’t really want to play her 90 minutes and we ended up having to because of all the other things that were going on. She was a threat. I felt like the way we structured ourselves to get her in the positions we wanted to get her in worked. Yeah, we’re really glad to have her back.”
On Shae Holmes starting over Lauren Barnes:
“Lu [Lauren Barnes] missed training yesterday because she had to go to her grandma’s funeral. So, she flew in late last night, so we decided that we wouldn’t risks starting her just in case something happened. Thankfully, she got in about 9:30 last night and yeah, was OK to be able to play some minutes today, but we knew she couldn’t play 90.”
Seattle Reign FC Midfielder Jess Fishlock and Forward Jordyn Huitema
On what gave the team the most trouble today:
Jess Fishlock: “Honestly, I feel like we’re just really conceding really sloppy goals, ultimately. This isn’t kind of the first game that that has been happening. Their first goal and their set play goal in the first half are goals that we should be just dealing with and then they scored two goals in one minute in the second half, which is just not good enough from us at all. When we come out the second half, we don’t track a run and then we don’t even deal with our own kickoff. So, for us it’s just more like they’re our problems, we’re creating our own problems and we scored two great goals – this one over here [Jordyn Huitema] – we’re so glad she’s back. But, we create loads of chances in the first half, we hit the crossbar, we have another two great chances. So, we’re just really the masters of our own downfall right now and we either need to stand up and take accountability as individuals and collectively or this is just not going to change. So, it is 100% completely on us as players and we have to really look in the mirror individually and collectively to figure out why we are causing ourselves so many problems.”
On what the team needs to do to snap this losing streak:
Jordyn Huitema: “I think, as Jess said, it’s up to us, truly. I think we have the skill. I think we have the work rate that it takes to pull out wins and the quality is just not there right now from us and we know that and we just need to put effort into that for now. But yes, for sure, we do have the talent and the depth and the staff that we need in order to pull out these wins. We’re just not doing it and it’s on us.”
On conceding goals after restarts and if there are any issues related to restarts for the team:
Jess Fishlock: “We should probably look at that. I think we have to look at it honestly, like one goal comes from their kickoff, the other goal comes from our kickoff, so something is not happening, whether it’s communication from a run off the back shoulder of someone in the back line and then we’re not dealing with the cross or the runners and then the goal off our kickoff is just honestly a catastrophe and we need to figure out why we’re not stepping with that ball and not going with a runner. That, for sure, is probably a focus situation and we just conceded and we have to switch on and go again and perhaps we haven’t done that and it’s probably just a knock on effect of conceding in the first minute after going in 2-2 and kind of what’s happened early on in the season and kind of just hitting you when you’re down and all that. So, we really have to just regroup now. We have a week until we play Portland at home, so we have a week to fix this.”
On the team scoring goals and creating chances and if that makes the team feel better:
Jess Fishlock: “Yeah, of course. I mean, what’s nice is we are scoring goals and we have a lot of different goals scorers. Obviously, we’ve been missing really big players for us, too. We’ve been missing this one [Huitema], which is nice to have back and adds a completely different dimension to our game. Yeah, you can’t be scoring two or three goals – well, two, probably – back-to-back-to-back-to-back games and then conceding five and three and three, you just can’t. So, obviously it’s nice and we’re scoring great goals, too. They’re not tap ins or anything, they’re just really well-worked goals and great runs and whatever. It’s nice and that’s not a problem. Yes, to answer the question, it’s really nice, the scoring goals is not our problem.”
On earning her first NWSL brace and how it feels to be back:
Jordyn Huitema: “Yeah, I mean, I was definitely happy to be back and to be cleared to just kind of do my best to help the team, honestly. I think being on the sidelines is hard when you’re just only able to watch and I think I’ve been excited to kind of just be back on the field. But yeah, that’s all I can say.”