UTAH ROYALS FC 0-1 Chicago Red Stars
ZIONS BANK STADIUM; HERRIMAN, UTAH
JULY 12, 2020
Head Coach Craig Harrington
Overall thoughts:
“It stings right now, I’m not going to lie, it hurts, but we always knew we were going to be going to knockout football. We’re on to knockout football and we want to stay together as a group and if we want to keep enjoying this tournament and enjoying this experience we need to make sure that we turn these tight losses into wins, simple as that. Black and white, I feel like we did enough to win the game, but again, concentration levels marking in the box just let us down tonight. Overall proud of the performance, but it’s not the result we want and we need to do better.”
Opinion on how new players in starting XI did:
“I thought they were excellent. Their attitude, their effort, their energy, their application to what we asked them in the game plan, I thought they were fantastic. And again I feel sorry for them tonight, because they are going to go home right now and they are going to hurt a lot, but they should be really proud of themselves in reflection of what they did tonight”
On not being clinical in front of goal:
“It’s not for lack of chances, I think we’ve all seen that and we will continue to do that. I believe after three games we had the most shots of any team and I believe we also had the most shots on target, if we can do that at some point average we will get the ball in the back of the net more than the other team. We'll keep plugging away and playing our trade, bring on the quarterfinals.”
On Kelley O’Hara’s performance:
“Magnificent, it was so good to have Kelley out there, the energy level, her ability on and off the ball, her leadership, it’s just really good to have Kelley back and hopefully we see more of her as the tournament goes on.”
Forward Arielle Ship
Overall Thoughts:
“Obviously it was not the result we wanted, disappointed to give one up in the last 10 minutes, but I think all that we can do is watch the film and try and learn from this and look to go ahead and win the next game. Quarterfinals is a must-win game and we are all on the same page and determined to get that ‘W’.”
On her first start for Royals FC:
“I was so excited to get to wear this badge and start for this team. Being at this club has been incredible, everyone is so professional, the staff, the girls even Dell Loy [Hansen] putting on this whole tournament, so I was super excited to get some time. Hopefully I did my best and we can win from this loss.”
On lack of offensive production:
“I know I had one or two that I should of had, but I think a lot of goals are coming for us, I think it’s coming and we are just going to take these four games and try and learn from it the best we can, make sure we get this win.”
On the quarterfinals:
“Well tomorrow is off, so I’m excited for an off day, but you know ice baths, rolling out, pool recovery, just taking care of our bodies and getting our mentalities right to look forward to this next game."
