University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Press Conference Quotes
December 1, 2012 | Women's Soccer
NORTH CAROLINA POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
November 30, 2012
Head Coach Anson Dorrance
Opening statement ...
"Obviously, we're ecstatic to beat an
outstanding Stanford team. To be in the final is an absolute thrill. I couldn't
be happier with the way my kids have played. It will certainly make a huge
difference to our program, so I'm absolutely thrilled in every respect and very
proud to be advancing."
On the substitution strategy ...
"We play a high pressure game that's
exhausting, and the players that do most of the work in the system are the
strikers. You can't play them extended minutes. You've got to give them
periodic breaks. The strategy going into overtime was to play an excellent
collection of reserves and try to rest up my personality of attackers and out
them in when they were a bit fresher to see if we could steal the game at the
end. Which is not a very deep or complicated strategy. It's just a strategy
necessitated by the fact that we just play a game, and the players that are
doing the most work are the attacking personalities. I need to give them a
break, so that's the way we divided it up.
I don't
know how much fresher we were, but I was certainly pleased with the
opportunities we created. Stanford certainly created opportunities too, and
certainly the final strike, the great serve in and the final composed finish
were absolutely outstanding. I think that was probably the best chance of the
game, so to win the game on the game's best chance is certainly a nice way to
win. It wasn't the ball bouncing around in the box or some sort of fluke. It
was an engineered attack with a great final pass, a composed finish, and I
think that's just a tremendous way to win a soccer game."
On recruiting and finding depth for a team
...
"There are so many talented players out
there, and I think I mentioned this the last time we got together: our reserves
are outstanding. Honestly, the last couple of weeks, they've been a dominant
team. And the starters and reserves scrimmage, so I don't hesitate to put them
in. They give us great energy; they can play. It's not as hard now to find the
depth. In fact, relative to everything else which is a heck of a lot harder,
like getting to this kind of event and consistently winning, finding a decent bench
is an easy thing to do now. There are so many quality players out there. We're
effective at recruiting them, and it makes a huge difference in training. I
think my reserve unit has played well all year, and they certainly did again
tonight."
On the referee's calls...
I don't think that Garret shies away from any
challenges, so I think both teams had their battleships. This is a collegiate
sport. I don't think the referee missed
too many flagmen hacks, but the referee let some of the collisions escape the
whistle. I don't think it was a dirty game. I don't think either of the teams
went after the players individually, and I don't think it was a game that was
out of hand. I think it was two teams that respected each other. These are
players that know each other. I mean during one of the breaks during the U20
circuit, Chioma came to Chapel Hill. Here's one of those candid strikers
training in Chapel Hill with Kealia (Ohai) and Crystal (Dunn), so there is a
real closeness between all these elite players. And I think Stanford is strewn
with these elite players, and obviously you've got two of them sitting up here.
I don't think there is a vindictive animosity between the units. I think these
are kids that are tough, this is not badminton, this is a collision contact
sport. I think you accept a certain amount of that as long as you're not going
for knee caps or whacking people from behind. I think that this is a sport that
takes physical courage and the capacity to take physical risks. I think that
game was a game of respect between two fine teams and a collection of athletes
that respected each other. "
On the story of the back line- walk on
defense...
"I was joking with my goal keeper about the
walk-on defense. Between the goal keeper,
the center back and the left back, all three of them are walk-ons. They are not
on scholarship, so I'm incredibly proud of them. The only scholarship athlete in the back is
Satara Murray, and that includes the goal keeper, so I think it's a great story.
Caitlin Ball, we invited her out two days before practice began her freshman
year and within a month she was starting. Hanna Gardner, we didn't even take
her on our first trip to Portland. We took twenty other players. Then my senior left back broke her leg in the
first four months, so when we came back we had to reconstruct our defense. We
threw Hanna out there, and as you guys can see, the kid's legit. She's got a
good frame; she's got some pace. I mean, she is not a technical wizard, but she
doesn't give any ground. She's a good, tough little defender. I'm very proud of
her and very proud of Caitlin, and obviously very proud of Adelaide Gay. She jokes
about this all the time. My first question when she was interested in coming to
us was can you touch the cross bar. I think that's a very fair question to ask
a goal keeper that's interested in coming to play for you. She assured me that
she could. Then I saw that she can barely touch it, but she can touch it, and
she had a wonderful game in goal for us. So I'm very proud of my walk-on
defense, and yes, the center back and left back both played soccer at East Chapel
Hill High School."
On what made the difference in winning the
game...
"Obviously, Crystal Dunn is a handful and always
trekking up the middle. I'm always wondering how she stays on her feet when she
gets whacked or when she goes through people. She just has amazing agility and
played, I thought, a superb ball into Kealia. Again, what I absolutely loved,
was her measuring that finish. I mean she beat an outstanding goal keeper, and
there wasn't that much space because her angle wasn't all that good. Of course,
it knicked the post and went in, and I think that was the margin- great final
pass, great strike and a great goal to end the game on."
On goal keeper Adelaide Gay...
"I think what she has is an amazing ability
to cover the goal mount and there were several redirected shots, you remember
those in the game. Balls start to go to one post, and all of a sudden it knicks
a defender and started to swerve towards the other corner. Addy has the agility
to start to go that way to make the save and then comes back and makes the save.
I thought she made some remarkable saves for us today, especially that one, I
think it was off of a cleared corner. We're stepping out, and two Stanford
players I think must have timed their run perfectly, because the ball was
served back in. And Addy somehow comes out to either close the angle or tip it
over. I think what you saw today is why we're playing her: great decision
making, and really good feet in terms of moving around the box, really good
agility, and just an outstanding goal keeper."
On Crystal Dunn in comparison to North
Carolina basketball alumni Ty Lawson...
"I think that's a pretty good analogy. I
think that like Ty Lawson, she's got a low center of gravity, she has amazing
agility and she's a fabulous dribbler. But the part of her game that's starting
to improve dramatically is her ability to serve and find people. In the last
month, she has improved tremendously, as has Kealia's game. Kealia obviously is
a phenomenal athlete. I think when you're young you use your athleticism to beat people. You
kick the ball past people and then sprint to it. I think at a youth level
that's how you beat people, and Kealia could always do that. What I love about
Kealia's dribbling right now, she's got a great stop and go thing going right
now. She's got all kinds of deception in her game, and I've really enjoyed
watching these two young women improve. I think this is the year they've
improved the most, and I think Kealia hit the nail on the head. One thing that
was really cool about the success of the U20 team is they're on the world stage,
and they beat some incredible teams to win the world championship. When they came
back, I think what I saw was this ignited passion and love for the game. Love
for the ball, love for the game. I think for us to remain a world power, our
culture has to make that a part of their personality. I saw that in both of
them when they came back, and I certainly credit Steve Swanson, our U20
national youth coach, and United States soccer for investing in these young
women because I think they've been improving dramatically over the past
year."
Kealia Ohai, forward, junior
On the team's chemistry...
"I think playing with the U20s for a while,
and then obviously playing with this UNC team, we know each other's tendencies
now. We know where each other is going to be. If I'm dribbling down the side
line, I have faith that if I pass it to Crystal, she is going to score. It's
kind of the thing where I have to get it to her because she is going to score.
It's definitely something that's developed through playing with each other."
On her feelings before shooting at goal...
"Right before the overtime started, Anson
looked at us and said someone has to make the big play, someone has to be
courageous enough to step up and score this. I think I got a pretty good chance
right before that, and I shot it near post and it wasn't good at all. I could have
crossed it. So when I got that chance that's actually when I thought, I have to
score this. I have to make the big play. Crystal has been carrying out, and she
still carries out throughout this whole NCAA tournament. It was time for
someone else to put one away."
On coming back to play for North Carolina
after playing in U20...
"I also think that once we got over the
physical, you know being tired from the time change and things like that. I
think that the world cup and winning that with the U20's, I think it's a completely
different experience. Honestly, I think that being on that level kind of
sparked something inside of us, and it kind of made us realize how cool this
game can actually be. College soccer is amazing, and it's incredible, but
there's something about a world cup you just can't describe. I think winning
that and coming back and having an opportunity to be on such an incredible
North Carolina team has kind of given us some more passion and fire for really
going after it."
Crystal Dunn, forward, junior
On the winning goal- staying balanced and looking for the pass ...
"That play was interesting. Basically,
Katie Bowen played a good ball in and it got a little ahead of me, but I
managed to get a foot on the ball. I remember, I don't know which Stanford
player it was, but they were putting pressure on me. I actually collided with
that player, and the ball just trickled back into my direction. I remember
Kealia having a really good outside run, and it created a lot of space for me
to play it through to her feet. She finished a beautiful shot."
On the team's chemistry...
"Like I said before, Kealia is really good
at making downside runs, and she creates great space. It's hard to mark. That's
why she is so good at finishing and making chances, because she creates the
space for herself. It was pretty much easy finding her feet in that through
ball because she had the space."
On coming back to play for North Carolina
after playing in U20...
"When we came back, I think it was the
Maryland game, I remember us just being so exhausted. I think we had landed
back in the US maybe five days before that game, and we mentally, physically
just weren't there coming off the world cup. I mean we were there for a month
and coming back and joining the UNC team, it was a little hard for us. But like
most things, we had to adapt. Right shortly after that we were able to adjust
and get back into the swing of things."
