Post-Match Quotes From North Carolina vs. Clemson

Nov. 3, 2006

North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance
Opening Statement:
Same philosophy as our last discussion. The whole point right now for us in the ACC Tournament is to figure out a way to advance. The game didn't go according to plan and I credit Clemson for that. We were trying to keep up a couple and rest some legs, but that never happened. But to Clemson's credit, they hung in there. I thought we actually played really well especially in the first 20 minutes creating a lot of fine chances. We didn't seem to have much of a finishing touch tonight although I thought the last 15 minutes were spectacular. I thought that when Libby (Guess), Heather (O'Reilly), Whitney (Engen) went back into the game, they went back in with a commitment to gain some separation and I really respect how we attacked the goal in the last 15 minutes as well. We are excited to be in the ACC final and excited to get out of the Clemson match without any injuries.

Senior Elizabeth Guess
On starting in tonight's match:

Starting doesn't really matter to me. No, it does matter, but either way, I'm playing as much as I can, so I'm happy with the amount of time that I'm getting to play. On kicking her play into high gear during ACC Tournament play:
It's weird, I've had one goal all season long and I've doubled my scoring total today. But, I do start scoring in the ACC Tournament a lot more, so I hope to build from this and keep scoring.
Senior Heather O'Reilly
On the frustration of taking so many shots and having only one goal through the first 80 minutes of play:
That was something that we touched on at halftime. We scored early and had a lot of chances. We have to capitalize more when we get those chances and put some teams away early. We let Clemson hang around too long. On the potential of this team this year:
We are seeing more and more pieces of our potential. I think that its great. We are peaking at the right time of the season. We have had some general trends that we want to improve on, serving, finishing, we can get more specific than that, but I think if we can clean those things up we will get to where we want to be.

Clemson head coach Todd Bramble
Opening Statement:
First I would like to congratulate UNC on their performance, I wish them all the best in postseason play on Sunday and beyond that. They are a fantastic team. We really enjoy every opportunity we get to play against them, tonight was no different. Anytime you give up a goal 90 seconds into the game, your head starts spinning a little bit and you wonder what might come of this game. I was proud of the way our team hung in there, defended and battled and tried to make a game out of it. It was still 1-0 with 10 minutes to go, we took a chance at that point and went with even numbers at the back. When you do that, one or two things usually happen, maybe you get a chance to tie it up or you give up goal, but unfortunately we gave up two goals in the last 10 minutes.

On missing the chance to score on the empty net opportunity in the second half:

I'm not sure how our team reacted but that's what we talked about at halftime. When you play against North Carolina, with the amount of pressure that they are capable of putting on you throughout the game, they are going to get three times as many chances to score as you are and you just have to accept that fact. You have to mentality tough to deal with but if you know if you defend well enough and keep the match at 1-0 against them, you are going to get a chance to score. That was it. That was it for us tonight and it didn't go in. And that stings. We are not happy about the results, but for me there is no shame in the way the Clemson team performed tonight.
On the field conditions:
The surface was slick. But I will say to the people in Cary that this is the best condition I have seen this field in a long time. The surface is wonderful. It was just a little bit wet, a little slippery, but it didn't have any negative impact on the game as far as Clemson is concerned.
On the Tar Heel attack and how Clemson weathered the storm:
That's what you have to do against North Carolina. You have to be prepared to weather the storm and during that time you have to rely on an All-American goalkeeper like Ashley Phillips and our players in the back to make some game saving plays. Your players have to be mentality tough enough to realize that in even in the middle storm, if your not giving up goals then your still in. They just have to bounce back and be mentality and emotionally strong enough to deal with that and I thought our girls did a great job with that.

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