SEATTLE REIGN FC vs. SAN DIEGO WAVE FC POSTGAME QUOTES
Friday, May 3, 2024 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
Seattle Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey
On how crucial it was to get points in this match:
“Obviously, when you have someone sent off as early as we did, sort of, the full game plan goes out the window a little bit. But I think we we’re still aggressive, we still defended on the front foot, we made it difficult for them, we know we have to give something up. But I thought defensively, we did an unbelievable job of limiting them to chances around our goal, which I think when you play San Diego, you have to do that and obviously, they came here with injuries and stuff like that, but when something happens so early in the game, you can either crumble or you can stand up and fight and be counted. I think it says a lot about the group, about their belief, about who they are, who they want to be that they didn’t crumble and they stood up and they fought till the death and one real bit of quality from Ji and Veronica and a really good instinctive press from Balcer to force the goalkeeper into a mistake, gets us a win, which not many people go against San Diego and win, not many people go against San Diego and win with 10 players for 90 minutes. So yeah, I’m really, really proud of the group.”
On what this win says about the club from a grit standpoint how the team continues to utilize its depth:
“I think, with three games in a week, our plan was to always look at who needed to start tonight, who needed to come on knowing we’ve got three games in a week. We know that with the results that we’ve had, with the losses that we’ve had, we have put ourselves in a tough position, but I will always say, you win three games in this league and your life looks very, very different and there’s no better example of that than Gotham from last year – they won three games and they win them at the end of the season and they ended up winning the championship. So, as long as you keep yourself in it and you’re process-driven, you don’t get too high with the highs and you don’t get too low with lows, you’ll always be able to have a good mentality and I think that’s what was shown tonight. I think this group knows that they’ve always not been that far away and I said to them at the end, at the end of seasons, you can always look back on a game or a performance or a moment that can springboard you, potentially, and maybe this was tonight. I think that this was definitely a turning point from where we were to come out, perform the way we did, to show the mentality we did. I thought Jess and Haz (Angharad James-Turner) were exceptional. I thought Laurel was great. I thought the subs were great when they came on and every single player that walked on that field was going to do everything in their power to make sure we didn’t lose that game and as long as we have that mentality, we’ll be OK.”
On Laurel Ivory:
“Obviously, their goal comes off a set piece and I think she deserved the clean sheet tonight. I think with the performance, she deserved that. I think what Laurel has shown in Challenge Cup games previously, whenever she’s been called upon, that she’s reliable, she has the ability to play at this level, she is willing to do whatever it takes for this team and I’ve always said internally, I think she is a massive, massive piece of our locker room. The fact that she’s getting a chance to show everybody how good she is, is a fantastic credit to her because being a number three or being a number two, which she has been, and now stepping into a number one role is hard, it’s mentally really, really tough, but she’s taken everything in her stride and I think she showed tonight what her true qualities are. We know there’s more to come from her and she knows that too, so that’s the exciting part for Laurel.”
On when she realized they were going to win the game:
“I think I knew we would win, honestly, when the referee blew the whistle. Everyone was going, ‘Oh, it’s it, it’s it,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t trust it. We’re going to set up like it’s not,’ so honestly, until the whistle – and every emotion you could think of was probably what I had – relief, losing my head, wanting to go nuts, all of it – because I think one thing I’ve learned in this league is, you can’t take winning for granted, they’re really hard to come by so celebrate it like it’s your last one because you don’t ever know when it will come again. I think we had a milestone tonight with Lu (Lauren Barnes) winning 100 games, the first player to ever do it. I said to them on the field, don’t ever take winning for granted because it is the greatest feeling in sport – winning games, that’s what we do it for – and sometimes I think that you can sometimes get caught up in other parts of it, but tonight we’re going to definitely celebrate winning.”
Seattle Reign FC Goalkeeper Laurel Ivory and Forward Veronica Latsko
On how crucial it was to get a win tonight:
Latsko: “I think it just shows that the team has grit and that’s the backbone of a championship kind of team. So, you don’t win anything without grit and we showed that for 90 minutes tonight.”
Ivory: “I think in all of our performances, our second halves have been really, really good and we’ve executed the things that we’ve wanted to execute and I think today, we were tested nine minutes in to see if we were going to execute properly. After every single game, none of us have hung our heads. I know losing five games in a row, the shift in the team determines where the rest of your season is going to go and nobody has been hanging their heads in our locker room, in our facility – every single day, people show up. The people who aren’t dressed, they show up every single day and I knew, you could just feel it, we were going to pull something out today.”
On having a strong performance and being able to show her skills:
Ivory: “I think they kind of put it in and around me today, which was nice. But yeah, I think the whole team has been behind me since I stepped on in the Bay and it’s been a really special feeling. I mean, I think each game I’ve grown, each game I can mark every single mistake that I’ve made and then promise myself, ‘OK, I’m never doing that again,’ and there were a couple tonight – never doing that again – and thank gosh they didn’t cost us. But yeah, I think I’m just taking every opportunity I have literally one day at a time, you never know. I think we have such depth in our in our position. So yeah, I’m just trying to do the best I can for the team and try to help them out.”
On recording five saves and earning her first regular season win:
Ivory: “I mean, it’s hard to put into words. I am extremely, extremely happy. I’m extremely grateful. It’s been what feels like a very long two and a half years of my career, even though I know it’s just the start of it, but honestly, I think at the end of the day, to look in front of me and just see the people that we have on the field, the people we have on the bench, the people that we have in the box, it’s just such a gift to be able to play with them and have this opportunity. I really don’t take it for granted. It’s been a day-by-day thing for me. Yeah, just to share the field with these people who have paved the way for me to do this as a career is pretty cool.”