QUOTE SHEET
Utah Royals FC 1-0 Washington Spirit
Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland Soccerplex; Boyd, Maryland
August 22, 2018
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On the win:
“We knew that if we got three points tonight, we still potentially stay alive going into our last game. That’s what we wanted. We also wanted a performance that reflected how we felt after the Sky Blue game and I thought you saw that. We were disappointed, honestly, that it wasn’t five. We could have and should have probably scored at least four more goals. Credit to Washington for hanging in there. I’ve said this our season – our team is an evolution and it’s going to continue to be. Now this is the standard these guys have set now and we’re not going to let them drop below it. For us it’s huge that we don’t drop our standard. On the field every day in training, that’s the bite and fight that we’ve got to show. If things can go our way and we can go into the last game against Chicago, that’s what’s going to get us into the playoffs if we make it.”
On the shutout:
“Any shutout is rewarding. For us, if we would have gotten a second goal it would have been, maybe even a little bit easier towards the end of the game. When it’s one, you’re always one slip away or one mistake away from conceding potentially. That, for us, is one of the things we’re frustrated about coming off the back of this game. I just said to the players there that from minute one, I thought we set the tone. We worked really hard and were on the front foot and our ability on the ball was great. So we’re just really pleased with three points.”
On getting Kelley O’Hara back on the field:
“We just wanted to get her on the field if it was right to do so. She has the athleticism to get up and down. She could cover (Katie Bowen), which allowed Bow to keep bombing on like she had been doing previously in the game. She’s huge to this team. We wish we’d have had her all season. You see when she comes on what she can do and that’s without playing football for four months. We know that we’re lucky to have her and just want to keep her on the field for as long as we can.”
On the team’s mindset:
“We’ve been on the road for a week, so get back home and get a little bit of time away from each other. A bit of a break for those that aren’t playing for their countries. Then get back in towards the back end of next week and turn our focus back towards Chicago and prepare for that last game and hope we can be in position where that game matters and we can get where we want to be.”
Defender/Forward Kelley O’Hara
On getting back on the field:
“It feels really good to be back. Pretty tiring, but it’s the best feeling ever to be playing soccer again.”
On the team’s mindset:
“I think we’re in a good place mentally. I think the last 35 minutes of the Sky Blue game and then this entire 90 minutes – I think this was our best performance of the year. Collectively, as a whole for the full 90 minutes. Obviously we probably want more goals than that, but in terms of the style of play I think we looked really good tonight. I think that we’ll take that momentum into our final game of the season.”
On what she wanted to do in her return:
“Honestly, just get back on the field and get my feet wet again and help out the team in whatever situation we were in when I went in. We were 1-0 up so I played a little bit higher on the field and worked my butt off to make sure defensively we were solid. At the end we tried to put in a couple more chances to seal the game. Obviously those didn’t go in, but we got the win and we got three points.”
On the biggest takeaway from the game:
“The biggest takeaway for us as a team tonight has got to be that we’ve got to start every game with fire and play with heart for 90 minutes. We have the technique. We have the tactics. It’s that little bit of edge and little bit of desire that I think we’ve lacked at times and I think we showed that tonight.”
Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart
On the match:
“It’s a big three points for us to keep the playoff push alive. A lot of it’s out of our hands, but we have to do everything we can control right now. That’s getting the three points here and then going back home to finish it off in a couple of weeks.”
On the shutout:
“I think you always want to get the shutout, but I think it goes to show collectively how hard we defended from our front players all the way to our backline. I don’t know that we let them get a good chance on goal and that speaks a lot to how hard people are willing to work in the frontline, in the midfield and then our backs that cut out that last dangerous pass.”
On the team mindset:
“I think it helps coming out with this three points here. We’ve been on a little bit of a high lately so hopefully we can ride that momentum and energy into that final home game. Hopefully that’s our last push for the playoffs and we’re still alive. We go back home and that’s big for us to ride off the energy we have from our home fans.”
