Semifinal Postgame Press Conference (at SD) • Sunday, November 5, 2023

OL REIGN at SAN DIEGO WAVE FC

POSTGAME QUOTES

Semifinal • Sunday, November 5, 2023 • Snapdragon Stadium • San Diego, CA

OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey

On her overall thoughts on the performance tonight:

“So proud of them. I think, worked really hard, stuck to the game plan, we reduced them to limited opportunities, which we’ve done a good job against them to do that because they are a really hard team to play against. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck to get where you want to go – obviously, I don’t think (forward Veronica Latsko) Ronnie ever meant it to do what she did, but we’ll take it. But I thought we had really good patches in the game where we created – I thought (midfielder) Rose (Lavelle) was exceptional. I thought (defender) Alana Cook was exceptional. There were a lot of players on the field who did excellent, really stepped up. You know when you come here and play this team, you have to dig in, they’re a good team, they won the Shield for a reason. So yeah, just overall, really, really proud of the players.”

On Lavelle’s performance and what made Latsko so clutch to have two game-winning goals in a row:

“Yeah, Rose is one of the best players in the world, there’s no question. She makes our team better; she always has done. It’s been a really frustrating year for her with injuries. So, to get her back at this moment, she’s just something different, there’s no one like her; she’s so hard to defend, she travels at pace with the ball like no one else and when we have her in our team, our dynamic is just different because we are solid, we’re hard to play against, we don’t concede a lot of goals – I don’t know how many minutes its been now since we haven’t conceded a goal – but you need difference-makers and we’ve relied upon a lot of people this year and unfortunately, it hasn’t been Rose a lot. But you just saw tonight, she’s exceptional, she’s world-class. And Ronnie, she’s the epitome of work hard and good things will happen to you and she trains so hard every day. She works her socks off. Every single day – we have all the data and all that stuff – she always is the one that has done the most; she always runs about like a lunatic every day. But she’s getting the reward and I say that to the players all the time, if you work hard and you dig in and you show your ability, good things will happen to you and that’s happening to Veronica right now.”

On how much it means to her to reach the Championship for the first time since 2015:

“A lot. I’ll leave it at that. It means a lot.”

On the storylines that deserve more attention leading up to the Championship this week:

“I think how gritty we are. I think how hard working we are. We have talent, there’s no question, we’re a talented roster. We have experience, but we’re gritty – we’ve grind a lot of things out this year. Internally, we’ve had a lot of things that we’ve had to deal with and sometimes that can be the difference maker in the toughest of moments and I think that could be a really cool story. But the fairytale is (forward Megan Rapinoe) Pinoe and (Gotham FC defender Ali Krieger) Kriegs, it’s a great story. For us, the three OGs, their last game ever together is a championship final – you don’t write a better script than that. So, I think for them, them three, phenomenal. I think for this group as a collective, last year, when we didn’t win the semifinal, we did something we’ve never done, which is, we had a team meeting after it, a couple of days after it and we were really honest, really vulnerable, really dug in to what we felt we didn’t do well because I said to them, often when you lose, you just go away and you do exit interviews and everyone sort of goes their separate ways, it’s very individualized. But, I just felt that we needed that moment to just come together to go, we don’t want to feel this again and how are we going to make sure we don’t? Honestly, there were periods in this season where I was just like, I’m just not sure if we’re going to get there, like we’re going to get over the hump of what we have to do and credit to the group. We had a real moment after we played Portland and we lost in Portland where we came together and said, ‘Why are we doing this? What’s our why? It can’t just be about Pinoe. It can’t just be about all these things everyone talks about. What’s your why as an individual?’ We really dug into that and I honestly think it was a game-changing moment for us.”

OL Reign Forward Veronica Latsko and Midfielder Rose Lavelle

On earning the win against San Diego Wave FC and facing NJ/NY Gotham FC in the Championship:

Rose Lavelle: “I mean, I think they obviously are a really good team, they have a lot of really good individual players, starting with the goalie, backline, they’re so good at playing out, they’re very comfortable on the ball. So, we definitely had to run a lot in the press, they made it hard for us. So, I think we kind of had to grind it out and be a little gritty, pick up second balls, but yeah, credit to them, they made it very difficult for us. I think with Gotham, they’re obviously doing really good, they also have a lot of really good individual players. We were laughing, saying it’s like the battle of the two people retiring. I feel like it seems a bit poetic that the Championship game is ending with (Gotham FC defender Ali) Krieger and (forward Megan Rapinoe) Pinoe’s last game. So, I think it’s going to be really fun, we’re obviously really excited. We’re going to enjoy this moment, but get ready and get prepared for the next game.”

On how much it will mean to put the first star above the OL Reign badge:

Veronica Latsko: “Yeah, I would say that that would be pretty amazing. This group is special and to potentially win a championship and make this the most memorable year would be amazing, it would be incredible and to keep that memory above the crest for the future of the Reign would be even better. We’ve got to win first though, so that’s our main focus.”

On previously winning the FA Cup and how it feels to be in a club final in the NWSL:

Rose Lavelle: “Obviously, winning the FA Cup was so cool, playing in Wembley in a final – it was during covid, so it was completely empty – so, I think playing in Snapdragon in front of 32,000 people in the semifinal was pretty sick and to be able to compete for another trophy next week is exciting. Actually, this might be my first two playoff wins I’ve had, so I think it’s cool and exciting, it’s a new experience for me, but hopefully it will be a really, really fun game.”

Download here: Semifinal Postgame Press Conference (at SD) • Sunday, November 5, 2023