University of North Carolina Athletics
Pre-College Cup Quotes
December 10, 2009 | Men's Soccer
Dec. 10, 2009
North Carolina Head Coach Elmar Bolowich
Opening Statement
"Welcome to everybody here. We are obviously thrilled to be here. It's very familiar territory for us with the ACC Tournament here in this stadium every year. We'll be very familiar with the weather and we are looking forward to the competition. With the teams that are here, there are no surprises this year when you are looking at it in terms of RPI and the seedings, which are number one, two, three and five. Deservedly so all the teams coming together this week have a right to be here. We are really looking forward to the competition tomorrow starting with Akron."
On the previous meetings in the past few years with Akron helping the team
"You can throw that out the window. Every year we are facing new teams with new personnel. Akron is a different team now than they were two or three years ago when we played them in the Wake Tournament. You can't lean on that. You have to figure out how you are going to match up. This is also the knockout stage, not the opening of the season. We are facing a team that knows what they are doing. We are just looking forward to it. It's a really good team and should be a competitive game where both teams try to play. Hopefully it will be exciting for the fans and everyone involved."
On the difference in the team's mentality since playing in the College Cup last year
"Last year we didn't have many nerves. Last year we came in as the 13 seed and played the one seed right away in Wake Forest and came out with a result. At this stage you want to play your best game. You just want to be sharp. That's what we were trying to instill with our players. Just go out and enjoy this and be sharp. Play as good as you can play. Whatever happens will happen."
On the strengths of Akron
"On the both sides, they are very effective. They have given up, to my knowledge, only about seven goals on the year. They've had quite a few shutouts, which tells me their defense plays well. I know that they are a hardworking team. Their transition into defense is very quick. They are very committed to trying to prevent the other team from going into counter attacks or getting open looks at the goal. They try to play very quickly. They try to get openings with the other team's defenses to get shots on goal. When I look at the statistics from game to game, they pretty much have dominated the teams that they have played. They have gotten the results in that fashion by playing tight defense and still not compromising going for goals."
On importance of patience on the ball against Akron
"You're working so hard defensively to win that ball back from teams that play well. You don't want to give it up on the very next pass. You want to generate something yourself so you can get into a rhythm where you play a little bit in front of the other teams goal and get an opportunity that way."
On changing of responsibilites
"Responsibility wise, in the back I'm a lot more come than I've been before. Usually I'm full of energy and running all over the place."
On being the closest school to Cary
"We think a bunch of students will come over. We have a lot of support in Chapel Hill, so we look for a lot of students to come out."
On the defenses in college soccer changed his play
"The defenders are a lot more physical. You try to find more space between the players. You are battling the defenders the whole time, which makes it a lot more difficult. You play smarter and try to find holes."
On being the closest school to Cary
"With our families here and friends here it is easier for them to come out."
