Postgame Quotes
November 21, 2014 | Women's Soccer
Texas Tech head coach Tom Stone
Opening Statement
"First thing from our perspective we'd like to congratulate Auburn on a great season. We knew when we drew them it was going to be an athletic contest. We knew they were going to be feisty. Coach Hoppa does a great job getting her team organized, and they're pretty much an annual NCAA tournament team. They've won the SEC division several times. They've got a lot of trophies in their case. We knew we were up against a program that was pretty comfortable here. So hats off to them they played us a great game, scored a nice goal and really made us work for everything we got. As far as our team goes, we weren't overly excited about our first six or seven minutes. I'll chalk that up to NCAA nerves. It looked a little bit like organized chaos, but we really settled down after that. Once we got the ball in motion and got moving it and swinging it around the back and playing to feet, we looked a little bit like ourselves during the season, and at halftime we talked about that. We're like `Look, all of our best chances came from our possession. We can't just kick it and chase after it,' and once these guys got the ball moving it looked a little more like a game we were capable of winning. Paige's (Strahan) first goal is something she's done for the four years of her career. She scores the biggest goals for us, and we're so excited for our senior captain to put us back in the game, and then we'd run the same set play four times - I believe. We call it `Wildcat,' and this time it looked like we were going to run it again, but Alli (Murphy) noticed the keeper was baiting on it, because we'd run the same play. She just went for it, and Alli let it fly. Fortunately for us it went in over the top and then we just fought like crazy for three minutes to advance. I couldn't be more proud of these girls' attitude and effort today."
On defending the high corner in the game<>< "it="" all="" comes="" down="" to="" ball="" strategy.="" we="" have="" a="" lot="" of="" people="" on="" this="" team="" that="" can="" really="" smack="" a="" ball,="" and="" alli="" is="" one="" of="" the="" best="" we="" have.="" so="" when="" you're="" able="" to="" hit="" a="" ball="" with="" that="" kind="" of="" pace="" and="" that="" kind="" of="" velocity,="" if="" you're="" in="" the="" upper="" area="" of="" the="" goal="" you="" certainly="" have="" a="" better="" chance="" to="" score="" from="" that="" kind="" of="" distance.="" something="" low="" beat="" isn't="" going="" to="" go="" in="" from="" there.="" alli="" just="" completely="" got="" ahold="" of="" it.="" the="" thing="" we="" love="" about="" lauren="" -="" and="" we've="" seen="" her="" do="" it="" all="" year-="" is="" not="" exactly="" that="" same="" shot="" -="" not="" taking="" anything="" away="" from="" auburn's="" keeper-="" but="" shot="" similar="" to="" that,="" that="" low="" is="" pushed="" over.="" you="" know="" she's="" long.="" we="" call="" her="" `long="" low.'="" she's="" 5'11''="" and="" has="" long="" arms="" and="" is="" a="" great="" athlete.="" it="" wasn't="" a="" high="" ball,="" but="" their="" chance="" there="" was="" about="" with="" about="" 12="" minutes="" to="" go="" was="" the="" chance="" of="" the="" game,="" and="" low="" save="" our="" season="" with="" that="" save.="" so="" it="" wasn't="" a="" high="" one,="" but="" a="" low="" one,="" but="" it="" was="" the="" biggest="" save="" of="" the="" year="" for="" us."="">
On how they have developed as a team this year...
"Well that's just it. We have one of the best center backs in the Big 12 go down in game 10, and we were 10-0 and unscathed and had beaten Notre Dame, had beaten Cal-Berkley, and really thought we were pretty invincible. We lost those two and two others in the same game. We went through a little tight period where we were trying to find the right combination. One of the combinations we were trying to find was the right two center backs. We've played Cassie Conarty and Bridgett (Jenkins) at center back. We've played Hannah (Devine) and Bridgett at center back. It just seemed like today that with Auburn's athleticism and their pressing in midfield, we'd be better served playing big Cassie, the big tall six-footer, at holding mid and let Hannah be the force in the back. Hannah's intense and she's the best player we have in the air and she's an organizer. She'll bark at the team the whole time, and it seemed like the right two. They've played the most minutes together since Jade went out."
On what this win means for your program...
"We have a little bit of a daunting stat going where I think every team that we've coached for the last eight years has done better than the year before it. After last year's season where we went undefeated in the Big 12 and had a great opportunity and lost to A&M in penalty kicks, and graduated literally one of the most amazing senior classes that this program has ever had and two of the best leaders we've ever had. I didn't say in preseason `By the way we have to continue that trend'. I told these guys they have been surprising me all year because here we are further than we've ever been. Jaelene Hinkle and Paige Strahan have been incredible leaders. Really that's the key. If you have great leadership, we can do less of it. The team rallies around those guys. When you're coaching 30 women, stuff goes on and they have to handle it and they have to manage it because if it gets to our level, it's not as good for the team to work it out. So they've had to manage the team, and they've done a great job. Allie's class, Lauren's class has now come of age. They were getting bits and pieces two years ago. Now they are all starters. They are all playing 90 minutes plus, and so they were better than I think they even realized they could be. It's exciting but we didn't put the pressure on ourselves. We just said `Let's see what we've got.' Then that non-conference schedule that we found ourselves beating some pretty good teams made us believe that if we get I together then we might be able to make a run in this NCAA Tournament. That's what's happened."
Lauren Watson
On defending against corner kicks from Auburn...
"As a goalie, on corner kicks you just have to be ready for anything and you've got to make sure you read the flight of the ball correctly. You just have to judge it, and so on those corner kicks every time I came out I judged it, and I just did my best to push it over, punch it out, or get it away from any of the Auburn players."
On her strategy for clearing balls...
"It honestly just depends on the flight of the ball. If it's more lofted I tend to try and get it out because you never know what the Auburn players - or the other players- are going to do. You need to figure out where the ball is in respect to the players and make a decision from there."
Alli Murphy
On her goal...
"That probably was the longest. I haven't really attempted that like Tom said. Hannah's really strong in the air, and I noticed that the goalie was going up. I decided I would go for it, and she was just standing there. I was hoping it went in so I wouldn't get an earful from the rest of the team."
