Seattle Reign FC vs. San Diego Wave FC Pre-Match Press Conference • Thursday, May 2, 2024
Head Coach Laura Harvey and Goalkeeper Laurel Ivory
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her thoughts ahead of this match:
“Excited to get back on the field again. Looking forward to being back at home. Obviously, a really difficult stretch coming up for us – three-game week with three really good teams. So, I think we’re ready, we’re prepared. Obviously, last week, disappointed with the result, but I think we stuck to our gameplan and I think we’re going to have to do the same thing leading into these games.”
On the team’s takeaways from the first time playing against San Diego this season:
“I think similar to the story of the season, really. I thought we did a good job in how we’d set up, how we’d structured ourselves for big periods of that game. We obviously had some injuries and illnesses and people not available for that game. Unfortunately, the injuries haven’t got much better, but we know that we did some good things defensively in that game, we just weren’t really a threat as much as we wanted to be on the offensive side. So, I think trying to match the two – continue to have that attacking threat, but also be mindful that they obviously have a lot of attacking threats, too. So, we’ve got to make sure that we’re defensively solid.”
On the group’s reaction to the recent losses and how confident she is in turning things around:
“Yeah, I think the group has stayed pretty levelheaded. I think that we’re a process-driven environment like, yes, results are important, we’re in a results business. But I think when you live through process and you live through performance related – how you view games is performance related – that’s what makes everyone feel that we’re not that far away. I think, have we been threatening enough at times? Yeah. Have we finished chances when we should? No. Have we given the opponent opportunities to score goals that’s quite unlike us? Yes. So, we’ve got to try and marry the two up a little bit to get in a position where, because we know that we haven’t been able to score a ton of goals, we’ve got to keep the opponent limited to nothing as much as possible. So, I think that’s where sort of the mindset goes, and fair play to the group, I think that every week there’s been a few times where we’ve been really frustrated, or you can see the players are – it’s hurting them a lot. But I think because they see what we’re trying to do, I think that they’re very engaged and very much want to try and turn this around, for sure.”
On balancing squad rotation with having three games in one week:
“I mean, I actually think with the people that are healthy, we’re in a good place. I think physically, we’re in a good spot. So, the thought of having to play Friday, Wednesday isn’t too challenging. I think that Wednesday, Saturday will be the big area of focus of what do we need for Kansas to try and get a result, but also what do we need going down to Portland.”
On the status of Quinn’s injury:
“Yeah, I think not as bad as first feared. I’ve said this a lot about everybody. But without giving too much away, Friday will be too soon.”
On Claudia Dickey and Jordyn Huitema’s injuries and how they are doing in their recovery process:
“Yeah, both doing well. Jordyn’s on the field now, which is great. Claudia is probably a few days away from being on the field, so they’re both progressing well.”
On giving up uncharacteristic goals and how the team will limit those chances:
“Always the same – don’t give the ball away, first and foremost, you don’t, then you don’t have to deal with transition, but prevention is better than cure. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can’t stop transition if you don’t structure yourselves well enough prior to it happening. It doesn’t matter who you are, what type of team you are, what personnel you have, it’s impossible. So, getting the structure right behind the ball is massively important and being pragmatic at times in what you do with the ball is also important in those moments. So, again, the Carolina goal comes in a bit of transitional moment and also comes when we’re a player down, so be pragmatic in that moment – we’re down to 10 [players], get it in an area where they can’t transition on you has been an area of focus for us.”
On rookies Maddie Mercado and Sam Meza and if they will see opportunities during this stretch of three games in one week:
“They’ve been great. I say this all the time, every rookie’s journey is different and for Maddie and for Sam specifically – Sam actually has had a tough time with different things – illness, etc. So, it’s sort of this time of the year that you get to see if they’re going to turn a corner or not physically and they both have definitely done that – their training habits, what they’re producing on the field every day has been a really high level of late. So, I’m really excited for what that could bring for our team moving forward.”
Goalkeeper Laurel Ivory
On how the team is feeling ahead of this game:
“I mean, I think we’re in a tough spot a little bit right now. I think nobody wants to be losing in the way that we’ve been losing, but I don’t think anybody has put their head down at all. I think we all believe in what we’re doing and we all believe in in the game plans that we’re putting forward, it’s just a matter of little things and executing in places that we know we can execute in. So, I think everyone’s feeling really good. I feel good and I’m just ready to play already.”
On the depth of the goalkeeper group:
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, what happened to Claudia is like, nobody ever wants that. But the four of us – Kaylie coming in really seamlessly, honestly, she’s been great – we get on really, really, really well. We’re all really supportive of each other. I think every single training session has been so motivating. We push each other, but at the same time we also compete with each other. So, I think it’s a really healthy balance between making sure that we’re each getting better, but also taking the responsibility on ourselves because at the end of the day, we are competing to play and I think (Assistant Coach & Head of Goalkeeping) Lloyd (Yaxley) also facilitates a really, really good environment for all of us to feel comfortable and support each other. I think at the end of the day, if we get a shutout, whatever the result is, we all take ownership over that because we wouldn’t get it without all of our help.”
On having to step into the starting role following an injury to Dickey:
“I think, like I said before, nobody wants to see that happen to anybody. I never ever want to see that happen to any of our goalkeepers, any of our players, but I think it’s a good lesson and you always have to be ready. It’s been almost two and a half years and that’s never happened to me before, so I handled it as best as I could and now playing in these games, I think the thing I’m focusing on the most is just how prepared can I be going into these games? What advice can I take from people who have done this 1,000 times? Lu (Lauren Barnes) has been really instrumental for me in that and so is Lloyd and Laura has been working with me to get to feel really, really good going into these games. I think all, both games, including tomorrow, all three games, I felt really good and I felt really prepared and it’s just a matter of trusting my training that I’ve done my whole life.”
On organizing the defense to stop San Diego’s attack:
“I think in all the games that we’ve seen this year, there’s been some absolutely lethal attackers. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before; we’ve played San Diego. I actually thought we defended them really, really well earlier this year and I think it’s just brushing up on a few things here and there, but I think our gameplan is sound and it’s just a matter of execution at this point.”