Women's College Cup Press Conference Quotes
Dec 03 | Women's Soccer
Opening Remarks - Head Coach Mike O'Neill
Good Morning, I'd like to start off by thanking the NCAA and the College Cup for hosting such a tremendous event. The facility is fantastic. The field is amazing. I'd also like to thank Rutgers University, the Rutgers Family, the state of New Jersey for their support and special thanks to the alumni and to Glenn Crooks, the former coach, for helping to build a foundation of success. The players, the staff, we are excited and proud for the opportunity to represent Friday night in the biggest landscape of college soccer which is the College Cup. This is the first time for the university and we are proud to represent them. It has been a tremendous journey from August watching the players develop as players and people. It has been pretty special and we are looking forward to the challenge on Friday night.
Q&A for student athletes
You have always had a really stout defense but in terms of the goals-against-average it is much lower this year than it was last year. What do you attribute that to?
Casey Murphy - I think the leadership on the back line from Erica Skroski and Brianne Reed definitely shows on and off the field. Their leadership has helped the whole team and motivates us to work hard day in and day out and I think that seeing them and the examples and standards they set just motivates us to keep the back out of the back of the net.
Erica Skroski - Me and Brianne have been playing together for four years now, Casey two, Erin Smith one and Maggie four. So every year our chemistry just builds and gets better and better every year and I think this year we have an unspoken relationship where we know what we are going to do with the ball before we even get it. I think that is something that parallels throughout the whole field between the mid-field into the forwards and we are always one big unit throughout the field and on the same page the whole time.
Coach O'Neill - I think that it is 11 players to defend, 11 players to attack. I think the difference between last year and this year is the level of experience. The goalkeeper, the backline, midfield, forward, everyone's involvement in defending is important. I think the details of the way we do things is big but it is also the commitment of making sure that they have set some goals in the preseason to break some records and are very proud of what they have accomplished on both sides of the ball and to be one of the best defensive teams in the country we know is important to the team.
The last game against Penn State you guys did something which you didn't do much throughout the year in giving up multiple goals. What do you have to do differently on Friday to make sure that you keep them from getting in the back of the net?
Coach O'Neill - I think it is no different than any other game. The details are big and there were a couple of times in that game that the small little things got away from us. We never doubt their commitment to the details and working hard, but in any game whether it is Penn State or whoever we play it is important that those details are taken care of. The last time we played them [Penn State] we learned a lot. So from that point on we've been stronger because it was a game we gave up two goals. Again what we do from match-to-match is try to learn as much as we can and we bring it to the next game.
Murphy - Coach Mike is always saying, 'See your goal' and I think our goal this year is to make it to the National Championship. If we see ourselves being successful then I think we will be. And that comes from focusing on the details and making sure we do the little things. We are so excited to get out on the field Friday and have the opportunity to play again.
Skroski - There were some details that slipped away from us in that last Penn State game when they beat us in the Big Ten Championship and we may have been a little tight and over analyzed things. This time, we are going out there and playing our game. Playing confident, playing free. We are just doing what we love and I think that is what got us here this whole entire year. We are doing this together and we are just going to go out there and have fun.
Coach O'Neill - I think one of the things that are important is the idea that we are playing Penn State in the National Semifinals speaks volumes of the level of soccer in the Big 10. We are excited for the opportunity to play against them again.
Erica, Playing Penn State a team that you are familiar with - advantage or disadvantage? They know you and you know them.
Skroski - I always want to say that I think we have the advantage. It is just an awesome experience and an awesome opportunity for us in general. We are 1-1 with them on the year. They beat us once and we beat them once. But to get another opportunity to prove ourselves, especially on one of the biggest stages in women's soccer is just an awesome opportunity for us and we are going to go out there and just play how we play.
You guys started out 8-0 throughout the first eight games, is this the best soccer now that you've played all season?
Murphy - I think we are playing the best soccer now and I think the biggest difference between playing Penn State in the Big Ten Championship and Penn State tomorrow is that we are playing better soccer now than we were then. I think that it is just a reflection of all the hard work the coaches have put in all year and the team has put in and I think that we have learned from our losses and grew as a team. I think we are as prepared as possible for Friday and we are just excited to go out there and play in front of our friends and families. We know the university is watching and we are proud to have the opportunity to go out there Friday and play.
Skroski - We are definitely playing our best possession right now. The combinations all over the field defensively I think we are the best we've been all year. Offensively I feel the same way. We are going to go out there, play our game and have a blast and enjoy it.
Coach O'Neill - I think that is the key Tom, I think you have to get better on the day to day. We learned from every match. I think the players' willingness to learn is amazing. To take it through the next training session and or the next game is critical for success. Along the way, we have gotten better and this is an opportunity for us to play another match, the most important match of the year because it is the next one, but I think we are going into the game playing some of our best soccer and we are excited about the opportunity.
