QUOTE SHEET
Real Monarchs SLC 2-1 OKC Energy FC
Zions Bank Stadium; Herriman, Utah
October 3, 2018
Real Monarchs SLC
Interim Head Coach Jamison Olave
On ending the winless run:
“It feels good. Absolutely good. Coming back with the win the way they did, it feels absolutely good. The team played pretty well the first well, dominated the game, controlled the game, created many chances. We scored one, we allowed them to score but in the second half we tried to play and we scored and OKC came out with more energy but in that moment we realized after having the lead, we need to win. The players realized that in the best way and they fought for it and win.”
On the importance of the second goal:
“It gave us that push. The way we played the first half we didn’t deserve to get out tied for the second half. The players knew and didn’t let up. They knew they were playing pretty well. That early goal, it was amazing for them it gave them that push.”
On getting the win before the playoffs:
“I said to the players ‘every team has a bad moment.’ We had that bad moment just before the playoffs. Having a two or one games going into the playoffs to get stronger mentality, it’s why we played that way. We tried to win and we won, to get that confidence back that we had in the beginning of the season.”
Forward Sebastian ‘Bofo’ Saucedo
On two goals and snapping the winless run:
“We all worked hard for 90 minutes. Personally, I’m super happy that I scored the two goals, but most important is the three points and the team win. We needed it. We all reflect this back to (Jameson) Olave and the coaching staff, they deserve it. No one as a coaching staff wants to lose seven games. They do all that’s possible for us to win and tonight was the night and I’m happy for us.”
On ending the winless run before the playoffs:
“It’s important to end that streak of losing seven games. The main thing is to get the rhythm once again heading towards playoffs. We’re capable of knowing what team we are and the type of players we have and the quality that we have, we’re able to make things happen in the playoffs, we just really wanted a better seed heading into them.”
Forward Chandler Hoffman
On the importance of the win before the playoffs:
“This was massive mainly mentally for the guys! If you look at a lot of the seven games we’re playing well for stretches, but we’re conceding and we’re not able to find a way back into the game. Tonight, it was massive. We get up early, they find a goal, but then we come out right in the second half, put them under pressure and we see the game out. This gives us a huge confidence boost, you can just feel it in the locker room. There’s a belief in this group and tonight really cemented that for us.”
OKC Energy FC
Head Coach Steve Cooke
On what the result means:
“For all of us in professional soccer, we are very fortunate in living in what we are doing. For me going into off season, we got another week or 10 days to train then we have another game in Saint Louis so it’s all about that now and making certain we all stay as professional as we can, as hard working as we possibly can, and that we finish the season very strongly. It’s never over, there is never an off day. One season rolls into the next, there is never an end, no finish line, we just keep going and that’s what we are going to do.”
On the Energy FC performance:
“We were a little sluggish tonight. We’ve been on the road for a week here and it’s not so easy. Sometimes, the pace of the game, we didn’t quite get into it quickly enough. Obviously, Saucedo scored an unbelievable goal to begin it and when you’re behind it like that sometimes it’s tough. All credit to Real Monarchs, they are one of the better possession teams in the league. They certainly have very good individual players playing to a certain way. Tonight they scored a couple good goals. Tonight we take that with us and we evaluate our own players and make sure we move forward positively.”
Midfielder Alex Dixon
On picking up three points at Zions Bank Stadium:
“We had some good moments towards the back half of the season. We’re trying to build on that and try to finish off strong. We’ve had a good run of form. We are disappointed to get the loss but our performance was decent.”
On the strong Energy attack in the second half :
“We started pushing up a little more, pressing a little bit higher up the pitch. We had to go for that second goal so we had to come out of our shell a little bit and get out on the front foot.”
