University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes From The Press Room
December 3, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Championship Match
North Carolina vs. UCLA
North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance
Opening Remarks:
"We are thrilled to win this Championship in light of the hits we took in the regular season. I am excited about the quality of the final. I thought both teams were in an attacking mode and really went after it on the field. It is a thrill for us to be sitting up here as National Champions. I think we beat an excellent UCLA team. We salute a tremendous UCLA team."
On Winning the National Championship:
"Every year it becomes more special that eventually I will have a heart attack up here. This was a special win for a lot of different reasons. When there is adversity you appreciate winning a lot more. This year we came in the lowest we have ever been seeded, and that was a factor in making this feel better. The fact that in both of these games we were down and came back it was more thrilling to come from behind to win than to be ahead the whole game."
On Playing Freshman Defender Catherine Reddick:
"I had a gut feeling that Catherine was ready. When we recruited her out of high school we recruited her to step in and start as a freshman. We came to the decision that we were going to play her, because we spent an entire day preparing for our game against Notre Dame that they never used and it totally messed up our first half Friday night. We thought that if this offset us maybe it would do the same thing to UCLA."
On Senior Forward Meredith Florance as a Player of the Year Candidate:
"I think that consideration has to be given to a champion and that the champion's best player should be a candidate. If you look at her career she won three National Championships and finished second on time. Her career has been a series of highlight film goals. She has been scoring goals like this since her freshman year and I think it all came together for her this year. She was clearly the dominant finishing personality in division one this year. The hardest thing to do in this game is to score goals and Meredith is one of greatest goal scorers I have ever coached."
On the UNC Midfield:
"In the second game of the weekend I always feel like we have an advantage. I am convinced that our kids are the best-conditioned kids that play. I felt as the game wore on our fitness base kicked in and the players that are most affected are your front-runners like your forwards and midfielders. I felt the longer the game wore on our midfielders would take over. We had a gradual dominance in the midfield. Early in the game we made a lot of mistakes and gave the ball away too much in the midfield. The longer the game went on our fitness kicked in and we became dominant."
On Coming Back to Win Their Last Three out of Four Matches:
"I really think that this team was on a mission. There is no way in those environments that you really think you are going to in. I genuinely fell that was a theme that the entire team had. Even yesterday, after the game I was talking to the team and they told me that they knew they were going to comeback and beat Notre Dame. I thought they were nuts, because I wondered how it was possible to think that way. This group is unique in that way. They never give up and are always confident that they can and will come back to beat any team."
On What He Said to his Team During the Second Half Television Time Out:
"I told them that we would get our chance in the remaining twenty minutes and not to panic. Twenty minutes is a long time and make sure the chances we created we finished."
North Carolina Defender Catherine Reddick
On Collison with Own Goalkeeper Jenni Branam:
"I felt bad that I did knock over Branam and hurt her. I just wanted to come back and win."
Feeling Responsible for UCLA's goal:
"No, I feel if I would have taken it upon myself, I probably would have messed up even more, because that can cause someone to play worse. I knew that we had to play more as a team and come together and we did.
North Carolina Striker Meredith Florance
On Her Game Tying Goal:
"It started off with Anne Remy and the middle of the field. She was battling her defender and broke through and even ended up on the ground at one point. She kept fighting through, got back up and played a ball up to Danielle Borgman. Danielle, again beat her defender with her speed, got around and played a great ball across. Alyssa Ramsey was right there posted up at the near post and she just flicked a great ball to me. I was just there to put it in. It was more leading up to the actual shot that caused the goal. It wasn't just the finish, it was everybody up until then."
Stepping up Her Senior Year:
"I think everyone on our team takes it upon themselves at some point to beat your defender and to take a physical risk to get into the box. I think we all step up at certain times. I think the most important thing is that we played as a team and we played together. We do have our individual times, but it was a team effort today."
Team's Chances to Score After the UCLA goal:
"Definitely the adrenaline was pumping after their goal. Just like any team, you score a goal and you're ahead and this power comes over you. You're just so excited to play and you're just going after it and going after it. I think it is a teme of our team this year. In practice we do certain things a goal down where you have to come back and win. We have practiced it and been in that situation before. We have the mentality to come back. We just keep going after it and we never quit. I think that is what is special about our team."
Her Four Years of Play at North Carolina and Going Out a Champion:
"To go out my senior year with a national championship is obviously a great feeling. When I came to Carolina I knew it was going to be a fun time, a fun four years and I never thought it would go by this fast. It's been awesome. I've learned so much from my freshman year until now. I will always cherish what I've experienced at Carolina. I am happy that we're national champions again."
North Carolina Striker Danielle Borgman
Transition from a Forward in High School to a Defender at North Carolina:
"It was recruited to play defense at North Carolina. Up until that point I was always a forward. Coming in I was a little unsure that I would be able to do it and make the transition. It was okay. I love to play in the back and I love to play up top. When I'm on the field I'm going to give it my all no matter where I am. I was ready to go.
UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis
Opening Remarks:
"I'm extremely proud of my team's performance today. I thought they battled hard. It was tough for us to play how we like to play because of the great pressure that Carolina put us under. They run, and they run their subs in, and they continue to run which is tough. But I'm proud of my team. What I told them at the end of the game was the same thing I told them last year after we lost to Santa Clara in the Third Round--we will all continue to work hard and next year be back to winning. My congratulations to North Carolina, it's well deserved."
Areas Where Noticed Improvement With Team This Week:
"I think speed of play and just overall mentality. We believed in what we could do and we played great possession at times. We're an attacking team and our defense is what was stellar for us this year. I think in all areas, we evolved through the season."
What Told Team at Timeout in Second Half:
"What I told them was that you can either thrive or survive, and if we just play to survive, we're not actually going to get it done. We have to play to thrive and continue to put pressure on them. Actually, I thought we played our best soccer after we got the goal. For the 10 minutes after that, we were attacking and coming at them. That's exciting to me. This team has a lot of character and they are not intimidated."
On Lindsay Greco:
"Lindsay has been clutch for us this year. She's scored big goals for us and she's a natural. She's not giving herself enough credit because you have to be in the right place at the right time, and she has a habit of doing that and finding the goal.
How Team Found its Game in Second Half:
"We talked about it at halftime. When we play out of the back, we have to play into our midfielders and talk a little bit to give us a little bit of space to play in because thief front players were putting so much pressure on us. But I really just told them to compose themselves and try to hit the flanks. I felt that we started to do that and I thought at times we combined pretty well and created some chances in the second half."
Describe What Happened with the Own Goal (Question to Krista Boling):
"I'll describe it. Ball came in there. Ball hits her calf, goes in the back on the net, goalkeeper scrambles to try and save it. This is my most consistent defender (Boling), my best defender and I think it's unfortunate she was asked to come in here. I know in the World Cup, they didn't ask the player that scored the own goal to come in here. She has carried us the entire year. She's our captain, she's a leader, that's just the luck of the draw. I think she had a fantastic game after that point. I think she played stellar soccer. I thought our back line was fantastic. Krista's tough. She has a bright future in the game."
On Carolina's Size:
"There were some big trees out there for sure. But I'll take compactness and quality. This game is not about size. The ball came back there and we knew we had to match up on their flicks and their throw-ins and on their corner kicks, size-wise. It was unfortunate, the ball skipped back, she hit it, and it kind of came off her calf."
How UNC Player Got So Open in Box:
"They make great runs in the box. They're very dynamic in the box. We talked about marking tight, but we were under tremendous pressure. She (UCLA defender) wasn't that far away from her (UNC player). It was an opportunistic goal, credit them because they found a way."
Was There Any Change in Formation from the Last Game:
"No, we normally come out in a 4-4-2. I watched the game, and they (UNC) battle tremendously hard to get corners and their long throw-ins. That's a big part of their attack. They're dangerous, they're dangerous at serving the ball in the box. Instead of forcing them outside, we tried to force them inside so they wouldn't get end line on us. We gave up a lot of corners because they push. They take risks and they push, and thy push hard and they're very athletic. We didn't really change our game plan. Physically, we match up pretty well and the size of the field was a factor--it's tight in there. It's hard to really open the game up, but they just work extremely hard and have a lot of depth."
UCLA Striker Lindsay Greco
Describe Her Goal:
"The goalkeeper and the defender had collided and I knew Stephanie (Rigamat) was going to get it in. So I made my run back post and it was wide open, the goal, so I hit it in."
Any Hesitation:
"No I was excited. I saw a wide-open goal and I just had to put it in."
UCLA Forward Tracey Milburn
How Tough Was It to Play Against North Carolina's Back Line:
"I think it was tough to get behind them because they double on the ball. We found a way to get through--with through balls on the ground or in the air. There was a lot of space behind them because they push up so high, but it was tough."
