SEATTLE REIGN FC vs. CLUB TIJUANA POSTGAME QUOTES
Sunday, July 28, 2024 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her thoughts on the team’s performance:
“I just looked at the stats then – 15 shots, nine on target. You’ve got to score. Goals change games and, in those moments, when you don’t take those chances and the opposing team has three shots on goal and scores three goals, you have to look at your quality in those moments. I also thought we lacked a bit of structure at times, especially when we were attacking. They play a little bit differently than a lot of NWSL clubs in the sense that they keep players quite high and don’t use them in the defending phase and we couldn’t quite grasp the realities of what that means is then, if you’re attacking and you give it away, they can go up the field quick. So, I felt like we lacked a little bit of structure. But ultimately, we had enough quality chances to win the game.”
On the quality from both Emeri Adames and Maddie Mercado’s goals:
“Yeah, really happy for both of them. It’s obviously huge for the pair of them to get those opportunities. I thought Emeri needed it. I thought she had a few opportunities in the game and not been able to take her chances, but we know she has quality, we’ve just got to see more and more of it. But I thought both of them took their chances well. Obviously, Emeri’s was a great finish.”
On Jordyn Bugg’s performance in her debut and if she is more of a outside back or center back:
“I thought she was exceptional. I think her best set position is center back, but you saw that she’s very comfortable on the ball. She’s comfortable playing in either of those two positions, but I thought she was exceptional.”
On Tijuana’s two goals in the first half and the changes she tried to make in the second half:
“I mean, their first two goals are completely us. I said to the players at halftime, they’re not beating us, we’re beating ourselves. We gave the ball away in two poor positions which allowed them to get – I mean, I don’t know how many touches or passes it was between us giving them the ball and them scoring, but it was less than three. So, I just said to the players at halftime, when that’s the case, the game’s easy to turn around because the opponent’s not doing a lot, you’re the ones giving it to them. I thought we came out brilliantly in the second half, showed real desire to want to turn it around and we’re in the ascendancy and then, yeah, I think a little bit unlucky with a couple of calls from the ref here and there and then the third goal, honestly, defensively, it was just not good enough by us, really.”
Midfielder Olivia Athens and Midfielder Maddie Mercado
On scoring her first goal:
Maddie Mercado: “I mean, yeah, it’s awesome, obviously to get your first goal, but also contribute in that way and be able to kind of tie up the game. But, it was a team goal and I think from start to finish, it was absolutely great throughout the field – Emeri, little dummy and Lily whipping the ball in and I was just in the right place at the right time. But yeah, it’s a great feeling to get your first goal.”
On if it felt like they had momentum in the second half:
Olivia Athens: “Yeah, I think we definitely had the momentum. Anytime you come back from 2-nil down, I feel like we felt like we were pushing and I have to watch it back to see what happened, but it seems like we kind of just got a bit sloppy for a second and got punished. So, it was a great finish, but yeah, we need to do better to prevent the counter attacks from them.”
On what she has learned from getting more minutes during the Summer Cup:
Maddie Mercado: “I mean, obviously, it’s hard to emulate a game situation and training, so being able to finally get on the field and kind of have that film to look back on is very valuable. I think that, both offensively and defensively, tactically, there’s a lot of things that now I can look back on and be like, yeah, I need to work on that, and I can kind of pinpoint that within training and make it very specific versus not really having that. So yeah, I mean, I’ve been excited for the Summer Cup for that reason. Yeah, it’s a great opportunity to now go back to practice and keep working.”
On learning from this match ahead of Portland:
Olivia Athens: “I think there’s a lot of things that we can learn. I think we created a lot of chances. I think, going to Portland, we’re going to want to put away those chances. But yeah, definitely things to work on defensively that will make us better to prepare for Portland. But yeah, I think in the second half, we created a lot and I think that’s something we’ve been trying to do so now we’ve got to clean up some things in the back and take that with us to Portland.”
On how they are looking at the standings:
Maddie Mercado: “I think, obviously, you want to get the result. We had an opportunity to kind of take that first place, but that’s not the case now, so I think you have to take the positives and negatives from this game and use that going forward and take that into Portland and now we go head to head with Portland. So, obviously, our sights are set on that now.”