Seattle Reign FC Pre-Match Press Conference • Friday, March 22, 2024
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Defender Sofia Huerta
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her overall thoughts ahead of the match:
“Excited to see the group in another tough environment. It’s freezing here, so that could be challenging.”
On how the defensive efforts from Week 1 can be built upon going forward:
“I think Chicago are a different type of team than Washington, so I think we have to be prepared to deal with some different threats. But I thought the group did a great job, defensively – limited Washington to very little and obviously that’s always our aim every week.”
Defender Sofia Huerta
On her overall thoughts ahead of the match:
“Well, it’s cold here, so that’s my first thought, very cold. It snowed last night, so I woke up and there was white on the ground, but we’re excited to get the season going. Obviously, having our first match at home was nice, getting that win is always nice. Coming to Chicago is really difficult, it always is. They’re a good team; Chicago is obviously known for always being hardworking and clearly with who they have in the front line, very transitional as well. So, I think just traveling here is always difficult, playing at SeatGeek (Stadium) is difficult, so it’s a hard game to come on the road and get three points from, but obviously that’s our goal. It’s always an expectation to win and like I said, I think we’re just excited to continue playing. It was a long offseason, getting a second game in is exciting for us and we’re ready to hopefully get three points.”
On what the team has talked about to prepare for Chicago:
“I mean, you always have to watch out for players like Mal (Mallory Swanson). If you’re going based off of the last game they played, Utah had a little bit more possession, but Chicago was able to transition, win the ball back and score some goals. So, I think that we’re really aware of some of the weapons that they have – I mean, Sam Staab is obviously new to Chicago, she poses a threat in many areas of the field, especially with her long throw. Like I said, having Mal back is obviously something we have to be cognizant of. Chicago is a really new team, I was going through players that I had played with when I was here several years ago and there’s not a lot, there’s only one player that I played with and that’s Alyssa Naeher. I think that sometimes when you have a new team, new coach, new players, it’s really exciting to just, you almost get to start over. So, we’re aware that they’re a very new team but that they’re excited to prove what they can do on the field. So yeah, like I said, we just have to be really aware of some of their really key players and their ability to transition.”
On how happy she is with the defensive efforts from Week 1 and how the team can build on that going forward:
“Well, obviously really happy. As a defender, any time we had a clean sheet, it’s a positive and as you know, we have some injuries, so we’ve had to make some adjustments in our backline and so to see players who maybe wouldn’t have gotten the start, getting the start and playing very well and then being so strong defensively is something that we always strive to do. So, that was something that we took out of the game as a positive and we’re going to hope to do that this weekend as well. That’s really our goal every weekend – get a shutout, be strong defensively, like I said, they have some really attacking threats, so if we can shut them out and do as well as we did last weekend, I think we’ll be really happy with that, but I’m really happy with our backline, I always have been for the last several years. I think, statistically, we’ve always been one of the top teams defensively and that’s something we really pride ourselves on and a reason why I think I’ve had success defensively because I have a lot of good players on the line with me, so it’s always something that we strive to do – shut teams out and to not just be good defensively, but also on the ball, that’s something we really take pride in as well. It starts from the backline and we want to be that voice and we want to set the tone with the passes that we’re playing in to our other teammates. We have a really, in my opinion, a very good backline – a combination of experience, but also some younger players, but those younger players don’t show their age at all, like Alana (Cook), Phoebe (McClernon), Shae (Holmes), Lily (Woodham) now that we’ve added to our backline. I mean, you wouldn’t guess that they’re all way younger than me and Lu (Lauren Barnes), but they are. So yeah, really proud of the backline – and Claudia (Dickey), of course, she’s also young.”
On the pros and cons of having a long stretch of road games early in the season:
“Yeah, I did see that when I checked the schedule. I was really excited to obviously have our first game at home, we haven’t had that for a couple years, so we were excited about that, but then to have three away games at the beginning, I mean, that’s challenging. Traveling is obviously challenging, but it’s part of the job, so I know that we don’t take it too hard, we’re not going to focus on it too much. But I think to your point, having home games later on in the season is probably more beneficial, so I think we all are on the same page where we’d rather have away trips now at the beginning when we’re fresh and it’s not as hard to have a travel day, even though it always is, but I think in the beginning of the season that’s probably better than at the end. So, something that we’re not focusing on too much, but as I mentioned, anytime you have to travel four hours and now it’s snowing outside, it’s challenging, but we have an older team, a younger team as well, but we have players that have been in the league for a long time and know that there are so many things that are out of your control and you just have to focus on what is in your control, which is obviously not the schedule, it isn’t in our control, but our attitudes and the way that we show up on the field is, so we always try to live that.”
On Lily Woodham:
“Lily (Woodham) has been such a great addition to our team. Anytime you can have a left footer on the left side, I think that’s an advantage, and her left foot is lethal. I feel like a lot of lefties are like that, I mean Lu Barnes is the same way, but her left foot is incredible. Her crosses are really good too – two days ago we were crossing and finishing and I was very impressed by her ability to get whip on it because she’s so small, but she has such great pace on her crosses. I mean, she’s a complete footballer; I think she really understands the game pretty well. She’s young and I think that was surprising to me to learn how young she was, but she’s fit in very well – she’s funny, she’s a competitor, everything that we like at the Reign, so I’m very happy that we’ve added her to the team. I love people from Wales, they’re all so funny, so she adds that in addition to her ability to be such a good playmaker on the field, she’s also just so funny, so that’s obviously really a plus.”