Division 1 National Championship game: North Carolina Vs Notre Dame pre/during/post/etc.[R]

UNC Post Game Quotes

Anson Dorrance – UNC Head Coach

Opening Statement:

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be National Champions and so excited that we were able to do this with a young collection of kids who that just basically didn’t know how to quit. I shared this with ESPN on the field a couple of times, what was really neat about this year was our seniors an upper-classmen embraced this incredible freshman class that came in and basically the class embraced them back. We’re absolutely thrilled to have beaten an absolutely amazing Notre Dame team and excited to be national champs again.”

On the team’s defensive play:

“I thought they played superbly. They philosophy we had in this game was to try and play the game in their half. Their attacking personalities are wonderful so we didn’t really want to play it in our end and Robyn’s got all sorts of responsibilities there in the middle of defense to keep the game compact. When you play with the compaction that we like to play with it’s very terrifying and nerve-racking in the back because what you’re exposing is all that space over the top. It takes a really courageous personality to organize the back three and to play it properly.”

Heather O’Reilly

On her feelings after the game:

“I honestly couldn’t be happier. I think this team, from the beginning, I knew was special. Everybody got along so well and everybody works so hard for each other. I wouldn’t rather win with another group of girls.”

On how the National Championship victory compares to her other accomplishments:

“It’s truly an honor to play for the U.S. and play for your country and score for your country. But there is something special about playing for the University of North Carolina – the tradition involved and the dynasty that we are now proving are continuing. I like playing for my school team because these are the girls you spend day-after-day. They’re your best friends, on and off the field. There is something special about college soccer and the way that we train after school everyday at 2:30, I haven’t found another training environment in the world like that. It’s so rewarding to get this win and today is one of the best days of my life.”

Casey Noguiera:

On today’s game:

“It was pretty awesome playing in this game today and playing beside Heather (O’Reilly), that was cool. It is just really an amazing team and environment, it was just awesome.”

On when she found out she was starting, for the first time this season:

“Last night in the hotel he (Anson Dorrance) told me I was starting and I was really excited. It got me even more up for this game then the last game.”



Notre Dame Press Conference

Coach Randy Waldrum

“Congratulations to Carolina and the job Anson (Dorrance) has done with a very young group of kids. I thought on the day they were very, very good. As I told my kids afterwards, I’m not disappointed in them; I’m disappointed for them. They had such a great season and it was going to have to end for one of the two teams and unfortunately for us, today it was Notre Dame.”

“I was quite honestly shocked that we didn’t come out and have that kind of intensity that we had the last 15 minutes the whole game. I don’t know how much of that is, even though we’ve got some senior leadership on the team, we still have some young players playing, too. I don’t know how much of it is that. We’ll have to go back and take a look at it. I was at least proud of the fact that the last 10 or 15 minutes, I would have been disappointed if we had finished it out 90 minutes the way the first 75 minutes went. And let’s give Carolina credit, too. I think the two best teams are playing each other so they’re not an easy team to play against. They’ve got some very special players that create some match up problems for you. It may be a little bit like Friday night, too. When we got up with the two-goal lead, Florida State didn’t have anything to do but throw caution into the wind and that’s kind of what we did the last 15 minutes. Sometimes it works out better for you.

I wish we had had another 10 minutes in the game to see what happens at least.”

“I was proud of the fact that they came back and made it a game at the end and I was proud of them showing that kind of heart. I think that’s really what our team has been about all year. If you can find a positive in losing a big game like this, I think that’s something that’s a plus for us. I just wish we could have done it a little bit earlier.”

“This senior class has been amazing. Ever since we’ve been here we’ve been asked about Carolina this and Carolina that and the aura of Carolina. It’s a great legacy. But there is so much parity now in women’s college soccer. It’s not going to be duplicated. This group of seniors – we’ve been to four Final Fours in eight years. This particular group of seniors have been here twice and won a national championship. That’s equal to what Carolina has done in the last five years. We have nothing to be ashamed of. This group has been special and helped us form our own legacy. I think the kids deserve and the program deserves to be looked at on a national scene, the way we feel like we are. We’ll be back and with the seniors, it’s just a matter of trying to thank them for what they’ve done.”

Midfielder Amanda Finally

“They’re a very an aggressive, talented and athletic team. We knew that going in. We knew we had to prepare for it but they came out and played the better game.”

“You never want to be scored on that early. We are a team that is positive. We weren’t going to let down. We knew in our hearts that we were just going to keep trying, keep trucking and we were going to do this for each other.”

“Having a goal lifted the team morale. We got a little adrenaline rush. We tried to carry it out to the final whistle.”

 

Re: Pics National Championship game: North Carolina Vs Notre Dame

 

Re: Pics National Championship game: North Carolina Vs Notre Dame

Here's my photos from the match...

http://trisoccerfan.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=476

 

Re: Pics National Championship game: North Carolina Vs Notre Dame

This one is pretty interesting. Looking at the photo sequence, this is the play that Nogueira springs O'Reilly for the first goal. I count four defenders "in range" when she received the ball and she still managed to find the perfect pass. Completely and utterly AWESOME.