Seattle Reign FC vs. Portland Thorns FC Pre-Match Press Conference • Saturday, June 15, 2024

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Head Coach Laura Harvey and Forward Emeri Adames 

 

Head Coach Laura Harvey 

 

On her overall thoughts ahead of the match against Portland: 

“I mean, excited. We love being at home. We love playing in these rivalry games. We know we’ve got a lot to prove. So yeah, excited about it.” 

 

On player availability: 

“I think everybody is available.” 

 

On if they can use the rivalry as motivation to get points: 

“Yeah, honestly, at this point we have to lean on everything, I think. We will always be process driven. We’ll always be built off performances. It’s just the way that we have to be. You know, if we just got bogged down with results in our current form, this wouldn’t be a very healthy place to probably work, but because we’re processed and performance driven, we always have a way of being able to analyze what went well and what didn’t go well and if you look back to the Kansas game, I think there was a lot of positives, especially in the first half from that game and honestly, a corner at the end of the first half and 90 seconds of not being very good in the second half completely changed the game. For the rest of the game, we were relatively in it. So, we understand that that doesn’t mean too much in regards to the result. But if we can get those things right, then that may give us the chance to change the result. But can we lean on the rivalry? Can we lean on what this means being at home? Yes, absolutely.” 

 

On this being the 40th meeting between Seattle and Portland and how it feels to have been a part of that from the very beginning and how much the rivalry has grown over the years: 

“I think for those of us who’ve been in it since the beginning, it tends to feel like it’s always been it. I have probably said publicly more times than I should that I think this rivalry hasn’t been held in the levels that it should have been, both internally and externally. I think that because of the high levels and the amount of competitive nature between the two teams, we’ve kept that going for as long as we have. I think that’s a testament to what it means and I think we will continue to do that. So yeah, I will say and still say, I think it’s the biggest rivalry in women’s football.” 

 

On Sophia Smith being out due to red card suspension and how that impacts the team’s approach to the game: 

“Honestly, a big thing for us playing Portland is don’t let Christine Sinclair score. If you look back over the years, I think Sinc (Christine Sinclair) loves this game more than she loves most. She tends to play more in this game than she plays in most at this sort of latter end of her career. So, obviously, Sophia not playing is a different dynamic, but I think we know that they have a lot of threats across their team that we have to be prepared for and Sinc is one of them, for sure.” 

 

On what the team learned from the goals conceded late in the last game against Portland and how they will correct those mistakes in this game: 

“Honestly, I think the penalty was a deflating moment – we don’t need to talk too much about that – but I think we spoke a lot about it after the game of staying in games for as long as we can. But again, that’s been a narrative that we’ve used post that game. So, I think we’ve been talking this week and we’ll be talking again today, just about our own strategies around conceding goals, scoring goals, coming out at halftime, coming out from the kickoff, all of those things in preparation for tomorrow and moving forward after that.” 

 

 

 

Forward Emeri Adames 

 

On her overall thoughts ahead of this match: 

“Yeah, I’m really excited actually. I think it’s great to be back at home. I love our fans, they always pump me up a lot more. So, I’m super excited.” 

 

On if she’s had time to reflect on scoring her first professional goal: 

“Yeah, I mean, that was definitely so exciting. I wish it would have come at a different time, obviously, but I was just so excited and then going to international break, seeing all my friends, it was really good.” 

 

On what she felt during her first time experiencing the rivalry: 

“Yeah, definitely leading into the game, everybody was talking about it – they told us all about the history, all our rookies, and about the big clubs and then to be in the game, in the stadium, it was so cool. It feels like a real rivalry, you can feel all the rivalry and you could feel it from the fans and everything. So, it was a really cool game to be in.” 

 

On what has been the most surprising aspect about moving up to this level of play: 

“I think the thing that I wasn’t expecting most, I guess, was the games are so much fun and I really enjoy the games. Practice pushes you so hard that you’re kind of ready for the games. I think practice is definitely harder than the games and you feel it with our team, like going against Sofia Huerta or Phoebe, they’re such good defenders and then you go into the game and you’re like, ‘OK, this is what I was ready for, this is what I trained for all week,’ so I think that’s what surprised me most. So, I do really enjoy that part.” 

 

On if the vibes at training have felt intense: 

“Yeah, I think it is definitely intense this week in a good way – everybody’s fighting on the field during practice, you can feel the intensity showing through a practice and the competitiveness and we’re all competing. So, I think everybody’s really excited for this game.” 

 

On the threats Portland poses: 

“I mean, obviously, they’re a very good team. I’m looking forward to getting in behind more. I hope that we can exploit them that way and I think we’ll be able to do that.”