QUOTE SHEET
Utah Royals FC 3-1 Reign FC
Cheney Stadium; Tacoma, Washington
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Utah Royals FC Head Coach Laura Harvey
Overall thoughts on the game…
“I felt in the first half, obviously scoring early was great and I felt we let them back in the game a little bit, defensively we weren’t solving what we needed to do in the first half and I felt in the second half we did that a lot better. I think we found the spaces that they were giving us, the were giving us them in the first half but we were not finding them well enough, and I felt that we really stopped their threat in the second half. I think, obviously for both teams, three games in a week is tough and I’m just really proud of the players, because I felt like we looked fit, we looked athletic, we looked like we could sustain that and not making substitutions till the 70th, whatever minute it was, is a true testament to where our group is at the minute.”
On strong second half…
“I think that halftime came at a good time for us to solve those things and we spoke about really specific things that we needed to be better at, and I think that we did that. We had a game plan that we were sticking to in the first half, but it wasn’t working the way we wanted it to. We stuck with the same game plan in the second half, but we just tweaked a few things to make it more difficult for the in certain areas and I felt that that enabled us to get Amy and Christen and Stengel and Vero in the areas that we wanted to get them into.”
Utah Royals FC Forward Katie Stengel
On what she saw on her goal…
“I thought ‘Amy’s gonna take this and score,’ and then the keeper deflected and I was like ‘Oh my gosh that just popped off my knee cap.’ It was a great team goal, great build-up and I was happy to be on the end of it.”
On building off momentum…
“I think we took a moment, took a step back and looked at ourselves, we’ve lost so many games in a row and we’ve gotta start treating every game like a championship and we have to win every single game going forward to compete for the playoffs. Last game was huge for us and we’re hoping to keep this momentum going for the next couple weeks.”
Utah Royals FC Midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta
On what led to her goal…
“I think my job on this team is break space, get in there and then slip balls to the forwards, but I feel like other teams are so occupied with our star forwards that they left me completely open, which is fine, because I was finally able to get a shot on goal. But, yeah I didn’t see an opening for the girls, but I saw one for myself and I took it.”
On form as of recent…
“I think the team is finally getting their chemistry and we’re just working the ball constantly, so it’s not just getting our forwards to shoot, it’s getting our top five able to get on goal. I think if we just keep working on that and our chemistry it’s gonna keep getting better.”
On two more road matches…
“I’ve been telling my teammates this whole time, I’m gonna be horizontal for the next 48 hours, luckily we get a day off after this flight. But we’re professionals, this team had a midweek game as well, on the road we’re used it it, it’s just about being professional, getting everything right and hopefully stepping out next week .”
