Utah Royals FC 1-0 Houston Dash
Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
May 19, 2018
Utah Royals FC
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On Erika earning her first start:
“In my mind, I knew that this was going to be a game that potentially Erika, Taylor -- those types of players would thrive in. I wasn’t sure at any point prior to lead up if they were going to start or not, but we knew Kelley couldn’t play. I knew very early that I thought this game could be one for Erika, she worked really hard in training. Today’s game was about how good we could be with the ball, and I know that’s Erika’s game. You know, finding the pockets of space in between [the] back line and midfield is where she is at her best. And I’ve said it to the group internally, and sometimes it takes a bit of time to show it but having twenty-two players is going to be vital all season. And yet, Erika hasn’t had many minutes as she would like, but she’s going to be a huge part in our success. I’m really pleased for her today that she got the credit and the reward of the goal that she deserved.”
Why she chose her line-up for this game:
“They low block, they don’t press you. Sometimes when a game can be super physical, that’s not Erica’s game, you know. I think she can use her game to bypass physicality sometimes, but it’s not about that today. It’s about being good on the ball and I think that’s why Erika, Minnie, played so well because that’s their game, that’s what their really good at. I think, I don’t remember who crossed the ball for the goal, Gunny, but what Amy Rodriguez did for the goal is world class. Not many center forwards would not shoot there, and I said to her straight after the goal, after she came off, and just now in the locker room, she’s world class. Amy Rodriguez is world class. And that is, I believe she doesn’t think that not many people would do that, but not many people would do that.”
On the execution of game plan:
“I think it went exactly the way we prepared for it. I’m really proud of them for how brave we were on the ball, for how much we continued to keep playing, even sometimes when we couldn’t get that execution. I said to the girls at halftime: “I think that’s most threatening we’ve been in any first half.” Because you can keep the ball up like we did in Houston, we kept the ball[inaudible], but we were a threat. We were a real threat today, I thought. And I think you can see now the chemistry of the group is building, which we kept saying was going to take time. But now, we’ve got ourselves in a really good position, leading to what’s going to be a really tough road stretch.”
On how URFC opened up the match in the last 15-20 minutes:
“I think we made them come and chase because we were one nil up I think. When the goal went in, they came out a little more. And I felt that way in Houston, I thought that if we scored, the game would’ve been different, but the longer the game goes on without a goal, the more they feel like they’re going to have that chance, and I credit the back line and Desi and Abby. You know, I think in these types of games, the way that Houston play, they wait for that
one opportunity when you switched off to counterattack on you, and we didn’t give them it. And that’s what I’m the proudest of actually, being the pessimist that I am.”
On the status of Kelley O’Hara and Elise Thorsnes:
“Elise is ready to go probably in the next week, Kelley’s going to be a little bit longer. I don’t think we have a time table yet, but it will be a minimum of a couple weeks, probably a little bit longer.”
On the mindset needed for the upcoming road matches:
“I think it will be [to] get points, you know, ultimately that sounds stupid. It will be not changing who we are, because I think the thing that makes us great is we’re really hard to beat. But gradually, in this home stretch, we’ve become better on the ball.
We’ve got to keep that momentum going away from home. It is different going to Portland, I’m sure they are going to be really excited to see me back there, so that’s going to be joyous. It’s a different environment going out there, for one. With the short turnaround as well, I think we’ve got to be prepared that it’s a tough place to go out and play. We have to be really diligent in our defending, and just know that every time we play, every training session we do, we get better and better on the ball. And these next four road games are going to be a huge opportunity for us to solidify ourselves in where we want to be.”
On getting closer to the playoffs:
“I mean, I would love to be top, sure North Carolina is loving life. But I think that for us, what is it eight games? Eight games, one loss, someone had said that to me before we kicked the ball, I’d be happy taking it. I think the ones we are disappointed with are I think in every time, we felt we were the better team. I don’t think there was one time where we thought we were lucky to get a point today. So, I think that’s been our biggest challenge. Our biggest learning curve is turning those one point into three. And today was a good example of that. This probably three/four weeks ago would’ve probably been a draw. But that’s our evolution, and we have to keep pushing away on that. And there’s going to come a day where we open the floodgates on somebody. We felt today might be it, but that could be on the road, who knows? You Know, I would love it to be in Portland.”
On four clean sheets in eight matches:
“I don’t know how many goals we conceded, I don’t know, five? Five in eight games, not bad I’ll take that. And we know that, I think we know that we are solid, but I think we are at a point now with this group where it’s risk vs reward, and at home, you can go a bit riskier, and I think you will get the reward. Away, you probably still have to be conservative, it's tough, if you get twelve points on the road in this league, you have a great chance of making the playoffs. So we’re on track for that right now, if we draw every game, if we sneak a win in there somewhere, fantastic, but I’ll take points on the road anywhere we go.”
On preparing in altitude:
“I think that when we went to Orlando, I actually didn’t physically we were in the best place we could be. Pre-season is so short in this league, I’ve never had a [inaudible] that’s been [inaudible] in Orlando ever. You know, being from the west coast and going there is always really hard, so I think training in altitude and going east or west I think is going to give us a bit of a physical advantage, doesn’t matter if we don’t pass or keep the ball, but I think we can pull a lot of teams into pressure and defensively work really hard because we’ve had a long stretch here now where we’ve worked really hard in our training. And I’m hopeful, fingers crossed, that Portland and then Sky Blue, we can use that training and altitude and use it to our advantage.”
On the support at home at the RioT:
I think the wins and the let’s call it the Gunny chant at the end is, I love it, and I said it to some of the players tonight, that I just love the fact that everyone in the stadium does it, like everyone’s involved in it. I’ve never really been, never in all of my career where people have embraced that, something like that so much. Normally, they’re doing it against me, so that’s always interesting. But yeah it’s been phenomenal, we’re so lucky to have such a great fan base here, and obviously know we have a month away before we come back against Seattle, and you know I hope that we can keep getting the word out there and pushing to show that this is a product that I hope people want to come and see.
On Royal wedding and Royal win:
Both. I mean, what a day. You can’t even write the script. What a day, Queen, lime and purple, sorry about it, no one can pull off lime and purple except the Queen. And then we win, what a great day. I don’t know about that, we’ve don’t get it in us, just the Queen. She’s the only one who can do that, and then obviously good luck to the boys [Real Salt Lake] tonight, hope both teams can get three wins, that’ll do it for me. Thanks.
FW Amy Rodriguez
On Erika’s goal:
“First of all, I absolutely love playing with Gunny because she is everywhere on the field all the time. She worked so hard on that goal because she chased the ball down, she was able to cross it. I knew Erika was behind me and I knew that she had a better angle than I did, so I had no problem leaving her the ball. She cleanly tucked it in the corner and put us up on the board. I was so happy for her.”
On team depth:
“Laura has always said that the bench was going to win the game for us. I think today with the subs that we made, all the players that came in today did fantastic. That’s what’s so nice to be on this squad, to know that I’ve got great players around me left and right. They were the difference makers today and they were the reason why we won.”
On keeping momentum to Portland:
“Right now it’s about recovery. We know we are traveling all the way to the west coast. It’s going to be a really tough game. Playing against Portland in Portland is not an easy task, so for me personally it’s recovery, rest, getting in the mindset that we have a big battle ahead of us with Portland on the horizon. Hopefully we go there and take care of business.”
MF Desiree Scott
On another shutout:
“I think that’s something we pride ourselves on. That defensive work, that grit that we put in, our bodies on the line. We have some the best defenders in the world on this team. I think that’s something that we have definitely pride ourselves in day in and day out in training. In every match we play we make it hard for the opposition and today was an example of that.”
On the defense:
“We know they have a very pacey frontline and we knew they were going to hurt us on a counter if we gave them any time or space. That was really one of our big goals as the backline, me holding in there as a 6. Really just not giving them any momentum going forward. I think that was just a focus all week and we definitely brought it today and contained them which was awesome.”
On the upcoming matches on the road:
“We’re going to miss home. We got in a bit of a routine just playing here at the RioT. Road points are hard to get, so now it’s about focusing on us, our opposition, and taking away as many points as we can get over these next four games away.”
MF Erika Tymrak
On Amy leaving the cross for Erika:
“She’s the type of player that attracts so many defenders and their attention which was great because it left me open. We practice finishing in practice so much that she knew she couldn’t get the best shot off, so she left it for me.”
On her first goal in a Royals uniform:
“It feels amazing. It’s been tough being a sub this season but I came on and I wanted to help the team out. It felt great getting a goal, but I really think the team played awesome and we played 90 minutes of good football.”
On her 100th overall game in the league:
“It’s pretty cool because I was a rookie in its first year and it’s been cool to see how the league has progressed. It’s awesome I could get my 100th game with this club. I think this club is doing something truly special raising the bar for women’s soccer I’m just happy I could be a part of that.”
On missing a similar shot earlier in the game:
“I think it’s just learning from your mistakes. Michael Scott always says you miss 100% of the chances you don’t take. I knew if I found my soft spot again I’d have to finish it.”
On if this home game was a must win:
“Yeah for sure. I think it gives us really good momentum not only from a 3-point stance but just playing really good soccer. Having possession, getting opportunities, being able to sustain possession in the attacking third which is what we did today and on the defensive side getting a shutout. We’re excited to head to Portland because it is a fun place to play and hopefully we can bring back 3 points.”
On the 5 games at home:
“It’s amazing. The fans are incredible when they show up we try to show up to win. We look forward to playing at home so much I know we have a stretch of road games but we’ll be so pumped to get back here to the Riot.”
