University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA Round 2 Quotes
11/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Coach Mikki Denney Wright:
Opening statement...
"It's a great win for this team. I thought it was a complete performance. Texas A&M was the second highest scoring offense in the country, and to shut them out including (having) a player down the last 15 (minutes) really speaks to our team's defending. I thought we also created a number of really dangerous chances and played our style of play. This team has played really well all year, but it's great for them to get this kind of result. We truly feel like we belong in the Sweet 16."
On the field conditions...
"We want to give a lot of credit to our facilities people. I've played on a lot of games where it has snowed this much, but this is the best job I've personally ever seen of clearing a field and getting it ready. They worked around the clock. They made it a very fair surface. Also our equipment people, all the things they did behind the scenes to make sure our kids were ready. There were a lot of little things that I think made a difference today. "
On Molly Rouse's ejection and suspension...
"Molly is huge piece to why we are here and (she) played an incredible game for us. I think our team will just play with the mindset that we need to win, so Molly can continue to play with us."
Sr. Forward Katie Bethke:
On playing at home and hosting next weekend...
"It's such a great feeling. I thought this was going to be my last game - along with the other seniors - here at the Robbie, but we just keep coming back here. I don't know what it is. We thought senior day was going to be our last game, we get to NCAAs and we get to host. It's a great shock that we get to host again and have our fans come out."
Sr. Midfielder Kylie Kallman:
On returning to the NCAA Sweet 16...
"The Gophers just go big. Every time we get into the tournament, we're making a run. We're putting it on the line, and you've got to be good to beat us. It's an amazing feeling...we expect to be a Final Four team. We're not bowing out here...we're going to put up a fight definitely."
Texas A&M
Coach G Guerrieri:
Opening statement...
"Congratulations to Minnesota, I thought the team came out and played great. They did a great job with a great opportunity to play at home. They turned their chances into goals and unfortunately we didn't. We were clearly fish out of water in this environment. It's tough because obviously you don't want to be a seeded team in this tournament. People will say in other part [of the country], and I've never believed it, but people have said other places - this isn't me talking - that the NCAA is just trying to save money on the tournament. It's not about trying to make teams that go out and work hard to get a good RPI, win their conference and then send them on the road. I don't believe that, that's not something I would ever say but I've heard that from people and it's tough, it's tough sometimes. For us, we were excited to be in the tournament, we love being in the tournament. Over the years we've tried to be a good host for our games at College Station, we've tried to be a good host for the Final Four. So we hope that we'll have a chance to get back and play in the tournament again next year. But it's tough to come in and play a really solid team like Minnesota in such foreign conditions to us."
