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Duke vs. Penn State Postgame Quotes
12/6/2015 3:46:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Duke Postgame Quotes
Coach Robbie Church's opening statement
First of all I'd like to congratulate Penn State, Coach Walsh and her whole staff. What a phenomenal program they have. We have played them for a number of years and you can see how their program continues to grow. Most importantly, I'm so proud of our team and the heart that they showed out there. What an unbelievable run that we have been on the past few weeks, we played as hard as we could. It was a tough turn around for us after Friday night's game, but it wasn't for a lack of effort. I felt for the most part we did what we wanted to do, it was crowded in the middle part of the field and we tried to go outside. A couple of times we forced balls in the middle and sometimes it came back to bite us a little bit. I felt that our game plan was working, but it turned into a little bit of a scramble late in the game when they scored and we tried to change into a different formation. We probably didn't do that as well as we needed to. I am just very proud of our effort, very proud of the commitment that they have had and the team has been hungry to be great all year. They are a great bunch of young ladies on the field and off the field.
On having to defend Raquel Rodriguez
Coach Church:
Every game we play we are taking on top players in the country. She has elevated her game since we played against them early in the season. She is playing at a very high level, her movement is just so hard to track and locate. She is smart and she knows where she needs to move to get the ball when she feels like you are screening her. She can move off the ball, she can play players in and she gets herself forward to score goals. She has a great feel for the game, you can really see that out there. I thought she was as effective against us as any of the players that we have seen this year.
On Penn State's goal
Sophomore Goalkeeper EJ Proctor:
I think that we turned the ball over and Rodriguez took one of the defenders one-on-one. She got a little bit of space right outside the six yard line and had a good left-footed finish on the far post. She definitely didn't have a lot of chances, but she is good at capitalizing on the chances that she does have.
On EJ Proctor's play
Coach Church:
We feel that EJ is one of the top goalkeepers in the country and that was on display this weekend. She is a self-motivated goalkeeper that works extremely hard. Our goalkeeping coach has done a good job with her, but when I come in early in the mornings I see her out working at the turf field. Like a lot of our players she has a desire to be great. She is doing extra stuff on her own. Those are players you love to work with and I am just very happy for her and she deserves to be named the top defensive player in this tournament.
On the scoring chances
Sophomore Forward/Midfielder Imani Dorsey:
I think that when I got on the field my first instinct was to go at their outside back as much as I could to try and spark something in our offense. I looked to shoot it because I had taken a couple of chances earlier in this season and gotten some good goals off it. So I just wanted to keep the goalie on her toes and put a tough shot on net.
On moving forward into next season
Coach Church:
The biggest motivation is being in this setting here at the College Cup. As I look at the stats and see how even the game was, we were right there. We lose one starting senior and a lot of other seniors that did a great job with leadership. The groundwork is there to make a return, that's our challenge now as we move forward. We are going to get some rest, but we are going to continue to strive to get back here to this event. This is a very self-motivating team and I know when the hurt wears off and we get back at it that it's going to be a very hungry team to get back to this and play at an elite level. It's always our goal as the season starts to play in the College Cup. It was so special being here and the NCAA does a phenomenal job with this event, especially here in Cary at this facility.
On next season starting right now
Coach Church:
I know these guys need off a while, it's been a long year. I'm sure when we get back from the holidays we will start carving out our path for our spring. I know this group and they won't be resting for long over the holidays. A lot of them will be out on the fields running and will be evaluating themselves and what they need to continue to work on to get better.
On using a high press
Coach Church:
We really didn't use a high press by design. If we turned a ball over around the 18 yard line then we do press at that point. Balls were turned over in that part of the field in the first half and we did step up and press. We will look at our program and how we are attacking and defending. We will see where we can make some changes and we will probably have a few different looks next year. I like what we did, I just felt like we didn't have quite enough today. I am very proud of them.
Penn State Head Coach Erica Walsh
Well good afternoon everybody. When you get to a National Championship game obviously you never expect it to be easy, but I thought that Duke gave us absolutely everything we could handle today. They came out in the first 20 minutes with the crowd behind them. They put us on our back foot and we had to struggle through that time and could not quite find our rhythm. Once we got past that time I really felt like we got back on top of the game. That is an extremely good Duke team that we were able to beat today. Congratulations to Robbie Church and his program. He runs a tremendous program. Just want to say Congratulations to all the NCAA and the town of Cary for the environment that you've created today for these student athletes. Obviously they feel like they have been treated like royalty as they deserve, they worked hard for it. We are really appreciative of everything that you've done to make women's soccer at this level treated in the fashion that they deserve. I thought it was a wonderful event.
I think to be honest on the contrary we wanted to try and step up but a testament to Duke who came at us right away. We had trouble pushing up our line and Schafer [Megan] had trouble getting a little bit higher and it was absolutely the efforts that Duke was making that didn't allow us to get higher up and defend higher. It was not intentional and we had to go in at halftime and solve a few things. Racioppi [Taylor] was pushing on the back line causing us all sorts of problems and their outside backs getting forward and again just great game planning by Robbie Church and his staff. It caused us to make some real tactical adjustments which I think our team did a really nice job with.
This crowd is a testament for the excitement of women's soccer in this area. I think overall we are just excited about the parody in women's soccer overall. You see so many teams competing and bumping off higher seeds. Duke obviously had a great run at it and I think that is the most exciting thing. When I arrived at Penn State nine years ago I think there were some games that we thought we could walk on and win the game. Now that is no longer the case. Now every team we play against has been a challenge. I think the Big 10 in particular this year presented some incredible challenges for us and I am thankful that we are a part of that conference because if we hadn't some of those experiences I don't know if we'd be sitting in front of you today.
I think that we will be telling the Britt Eckerstrom's story for years to come and part of it was when she came in she was an incredible athlete and put so much time and effort into our growth and development and had so much faith. Tim Wassell our goalkeeper coach did an incredible job with her. Testament to her work right there, you just saw her get better and better and more and more confident out there. This year more than ever her presence is what impressed me the most. In past years, her techniques and tactics have been very strong but this year she had just an overall aura and presence about her that said to our back line that we are going to be all right. I thought she was absolutely the best goalkeeper in the nation this year and she showed it week in and week out. Obviously to win a national championship it becomes all about consistency and she made the big saves but more importantly she drove this team and made them great.
I though Imani Dorsey was a little terrifying today to be honest. Every time she got on the ball today she was dangerous. They have so many dynamic attacking piece and you hold your breathe. To see these guys celebrating at the end of the game and see the tears in their eyes and know how much it meant to them that is the reason why you don't sleep at night and it makes it all worth it. They are certainly incredibly deserving.
Senior Forward/Midfielder Raquel Rodriguez
What I remember was Mallory was just running with the ball towards the back line and I asked for it and she gave it to me and I just made it a half spin and hit it as soon as I could across and it just was gone.
Wow. It doesn't work like that. No I think that every goal is special and those two you just cannot compare either of them. But I can tell you this is what I was dreaming about, to score in the final, and it is the most important thing right now. The World Cup was great but right now was all I was thinking of and I could not be more happy or grateful. It is another dream come true. Those dreams aren't more or less they are all special and that's why they are dreams.
I knew a little bit about the NCAA and that every sport has a NCAA tournament but I did not know with much detail about college teams. I had a vague understanding but nothing too deep. But I did know about the College Cup.
During the game I was thinking about that first game actually and all I could think of was I don't want that to happen again. Not today and we still had the opportunity to fight for it and all I could think of was that. I think it fueled us and it was just in the back of my mind.
First it has been amazing. I would never imagine that it would be this cool. I also understand that as a women's soccer player from Costa Rica there is a certain responsibility and I know and hope that with this and the opportunity to speak with the media to keep the game growing. I know that it is still growing in Costa Rica and I think there is a lot of talent but there is not much awareness. I hope to be that advocate and contribute to change at home and in general with women's soccer.
Senior Forward Mallory Weber
It was a good build by the middle and I got a ball wide and started running at her and I heard Rocky screaming in the middle and when Rocky wants the ball you try to find a way to get it to her. So I found her feed and a little magic and turned and played it to her and she got off a pretty good shot.
We have worked for four years for this and to go out on this note and be the first team to win a National Championship and be that senior class it is indescribable. It is just such a great thing and such a high right now.
Redshirt Senior Goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom
It was just a good shot. We knew they could shoot from a distance and we were watching film and saw some spectacular goals that they put in before and that one just missed the net. It was just a good shot.
No absolutely not. It's not me. The shutout is absolutely not all me it is the whole team. Starting from the top and working our way down. Frannie [Crouse] and Megan [Ritchey] and Mallory [Weber] have put in to win the ball higher up on the field and then just our back line is spectacular. Those guys put in tackle after tackle and block after block and making really awesome one-on-one blocks. It was a total team effort and I barely touched the ball, it was the team that made most of the stops.
Players Mentioned
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Mia Oliaro Postgame vs Pitt
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Kieran Hall Postgame Vs. Wake Forest
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Kieran Hall Postgame Vs. Notre Dame
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