Seattle Reign FC at North Carolina Courage Pre-Match Press Conference • Friday, April 26, 2024
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Defender Alana Cook
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her thoughts ahead of the match against North Carolina:
“I mean, looking forward to it. I think being away on the east is always challenging, but I think it being an evening game is a lot better for us than it was a year ago when we played at 3 p.m. So yeah, excited for it. I think how we ended the game against Chicago is how we need to start every game and tomorrow will be no different.”
On the threats the Courage can pose:
“I think it is a little different than what the last couple of weeks, obviously with how much of a threat both Chicago and the Bay were in transition. I think North Carolina have that a little bit with some of their players, but I think their philosophy of how they like to play means that we have to be collectively ready to defend as a team to try and stop their threats. I think when teams have done that against Carolina, they frustrated them, hurt them in transitional moments and got opportunities against them. I think if you don’t do that against them, it can be a really long night 90 minutes because they move the ball really well and play a brilliant style of football, in my opinion.”
On the conversations she’s had with the team during this four-game losing streak:
“Honestly, I think it’s hard. It is hard. I’m not going to say it’s not; it is. But I think the thing that keeps us going is we feel we’re not that far away. I think we haven’t lost a game by more than a goal. We’ve constantly been in every game. We’re scoring in those games. I think, obviously, the only one we’ve lost that we didn’t score in was San Diego, but they scored in the 98th minute, so it was one of those games. I think in all the other games, we’ve shown that we can come back and we have some resilience to us and we’ve ended really strong in a lot of those games. So, I think that that’s what keeps us going. I think that we don’t feel we’re that far away. I think we obviously have a lot of veterans on this team – we’ve been in this league a long time. I think the fact that they’re quite analytical, honest, calm, really approachable about where we’re at means that the younger players aren’t freaking out too much. So, I think, Is it disappointing? Yes. Is it hard? Absolutely. Is it challenging to turn up on a Monday morning after a result like last week? 100%? But I think that we’re not that far away, we’re not losing by dramatic amounts, we’re creating opportunities, so I think that’s what’s keeping the morale up. We’ve always been pretty consistent as an environment – win or lose – we’re analytical, we’re honest, we do very strong and vulnerable film sessions, which enable us to have consistency, win or lose. So, whether we beat someone 5-nil or lose 2-1, our sort of pattern and our routine doesn’t really change, which I think helps keep sort of the group in a process driven mentality, which you have to be in sport. I think if you just get wrapped up with the results, then the emotional roller coaster of that is really challenging. We give ourselves a day to be that way and then we turn our attention to what’s next and we’ve always had that in this environment.”
On if she has any updates on Claudia Dickey and Jordyn Huitema:
“No, not really. I think both are weeks, not days away, I would say. But both are trending in a really positive direction, which is great. I think the fact that we have a lot of games in May falls at a bad time for them, but I think by the mid of the month, we’ll be starting to see them making their way back in, would be my guess.”
On how important this stretch of the season is for the team:
“I mean, they’re all important. Let’s be brutal, they’re all important and I think that home games are really important, so two of those three are at home. The opponent is the opponent, every game in this league’s hard, in my opinion, every single team is a challenge. But I think, being at home, they’re the places you want to get results. We had a poor 30 minutes last week, I think, and that meant that we didn’t get the result that we want to go and get. But I think that after this week, we don’t travel for a while, which is great because we have traveled a lot so far. I think if you get totally wrapped up in results, then this stretch could look absolutely horrific on what they’ve done and what we’ve done, but I think if you get process driven, which we are, you know that every single game you have a chance of doing what you want to do and if you do what you want to do right, you believe you’re going to get the result if the performance is good, it will take care of the result. So far this year we haven’t had that performance, in my opinion, and that’s why the results haven’t come. So, I think we know that, we know what it is, we know what we have to do, we just have to execute.”
On the piece that’s missing:
“It’s different all the time. I think if it was one thing, we would have solved it. Bay was defending corners. Chicago, we didn’t do well enough on second phases of crosses to stop crosses. San Diego, crosses, similar and we got deeper and deeper the later in the game. Last week, you can’t let Mal [Swanson] run 75 yards with the ball. It’s different every game. It’s not like we’re doing this one thing and it’s tripping us up. So, I think we solve it and then something else comes, so I think that’s the evolution of the group at the minute. But I think the good thing is, the consistency with us is we’re creating, we’re in games all the time. When we sort out whatever it is on that game that’s causing us a problem, we solve it and then we push on. So, I think that that’s the key piece for us – being consistent on the attacking side of the game and trying to increase the amount of chances we create versus being solid at the back and getting back to – I’ll take a ball in, 1-nil win all day, every day, that’s me. I’ll take that. I don’t want these big score lines. Thank you very much.”
On how a long road trip impacts a team:
“Well, just to put it in perspective, I haven’t spoken to the players today, but I guarantee half of them didn’t go to bed before 2 a.m. because that’s 11 p.m. for us. So, I left my house at 7:15 a.m., I didn’t get to North Carolina until 7 p.m. That’s the reality of what we live – we fly commercially, so we have to deal with what that takes and it’s hard, but it’s no different for anyone else in the league, it’s just we’re having it at the start. Some people will have it in the middle, some people will have it at the end, but it’s one of the aspects that makes this league really challenging and for any player who plays in Europe, I always say to them, every away game is Champions League, every single one. Lily Woodam yesterday said to me, ‘We’ve been on an airplane for 5 hours and we’re still in the same country,’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it doesn’t happen anywhere else,’ but that’s what you have to do here, that’s the part of the challenge, which makes it great and I think North Carolina have a really poor results record going West. They have a fantastic home record, their away record on the West is poor. There’s got to be something in it and I wish I knew what it was to solve it. I would definitely pay thousands of dollars if someone could tell me how to solve it, but it just is what it is. It’s a challenge, it’s hard, but it’s the same for everybody.”
On having good crosses and getting in good positions and not being able to execute on them and if it’s because of timing, placement or a combination of everything:
“All of the above. I think, type of cross, decision to cross, I think there’s some that we shouldn’t, I think there’s some that we should and we don’t. I think, recognizing who’s where. If you want to put a ball up for a 50-50 header and it’s Emeri (Adames) competing, probably not the best, but if it’s (Bethany) Balcer competing, do it. I think that that is part of it. I think we’re unlucky, some of it. I think the Jess (Fishlock) cross that just misses the post, like Balcer and Veronica (Latsko) are in brilliant positions, just can’t quite get there. Emeri’s comes off a set piece, I think, great volley, [NWSL] Save of the Week. Emeri’s when Alyssa (Naeher) saves it near post, Balcer is wide open in the middle of six, like there’s lots of little things that I think we keep talking about that when we get them right, we’re going to go from having that one tremendous finish by Zee (Tziarra King) to having multiple and hopefully that’s tomorrow.”
Defender Alana Cook
On how the team is feeling ahead of this game:
“I think we’re obviously used to having more consecutive success, so I think that’s obviously something that hasn’t been a positive for us earlier in the season, the results. But I think the most important part this early in the year is that we’re just building on performances and we’re building on the positives that we’ve been able to get out of each of the last games and kind of try to negate some of the areas where we’ve fallen short or things that we can work on. So, I think the team feels confident. With each match, not matter the result, we’ve learned something, we’ve gained something, we’ve tried something new, whether that’s been successful or not, it just means we’ve added something to our repertoire that we can use to go into the next game and do better. So yeah, like I said, we’re excited, we want to get a result. At this point, it about getting points, getting points in difficult places and just improving on our last performance.”
On how the team will limit North Carolina’s threats:
“I think North Carolina poses a different challenge than we’ve seen thus far in the season – their style of play, their distinct possession style. They’ll have their 9s and 10s be a little bit more false and center backs probably have to step in with them. So yeah, like I said, it’s a different challenge, different style, obviously we’ve been scouting that all week and working on that and seeing the different patterns of defending that we think will work. So, we feel pretty confident going in that we’ve been able to see what other teams have done against them that’s been successful or not successful and look to kind of tweak and repeat some of those patterns and put our own kind of spin on it.”
On things that she’s encouraged by in terms of team’s performance and things that she thinks the team can focus on improving:
“I think to improve, we got caught up transitionally in a few of the last games. Obviously, we’ve played probably two of the stronger teams in terms of that with Mal [Swanson] and (Asisat) Oshoala. So, I think those have been really good opportunities for us to learn how to negate transition opportunities, especially, in a league like the NWSL. So, working on that and I think, as well, once we get into the final third, it’s working on our quality, working on decisions. I think the encouraging thing for us is that we’re getting into those spots, we’re getting solid number of crosses, we’re getting people in the box and then it’s really just about those final decisions and the execution. But, I think if we weren’t getting into exciting offensive moments or we weren’t getting the ball in the box, we weren’t getting players on the ball and in positions to shoot, I think we would be more worried. That, I think, is definitely harder to do than what we’re dealing with right now. It’s just kind of those last decisions, those last finishes, being clinical and clean in those areas. So, I guess it’s encouraging, but it is definitely something that we need to capitalize and improve on.”
On if the team feels any pressure to get a result:
“Yeah, I mean, I think points are always important. I think it’s successful teams at the end of the year, right? You’ve picked up points on the road, you’ve picked up points on hard games, it’s a little bit about bending, not breaking. So, I think from that stance, yeah, of course you want to get points. I think coming out of here with three points would be, one, great for team morale, of course, like you said, but also just great in terms of staying in the title race, staying true to what our goals are at the end of season. So, it’s not something that we’re sitting here talking about of, we need to do this, otherwise it’s do or die, but it is something that we definitely – it’s a focus and we’re doing everything we can to go into the game and be prepared to do that.”
On North Carolina being a tough place to play:
“I think it’s always a big trip for teams out west to come over east – the time change, the length of travel, trying to get settled in quickly and obviously, you come from Pacific Northwest, you step into the heat here, the humidity that we don’t really have a lot of experience with, so I think there’s a lot of situational environmental factors that go into it and North Carolina has also just been perennially successful. They have always played a really successful style of soccer. It’s obviously changed throughout the years. But yeah, I think they’re just a really good team and it’s a lot of factors go into making this a difficult place to play at. So, we’ve come out of here with some results recently and I think we’re hoping to kind of keep that trend going.”