Northwestern University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
5/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
May 21, 2011
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NCAA Championship Quarterfinals
No. 2 Northwestern 18, No. 7 Albany 4
Postgame Quotes
Northwestern Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller
Opening Statement...
"Obviously we are absolutely thrilled to make a trip back to the Final Four this year. I think the team played a great game today; we really focused in this week on playing smart, playing together, and really just keeping our focus throughout the whole game. I think the girls did a great job with that; I was proud of their effort today. We're just so thrilled to have a chance to play a great team in North Carolina this upcoming Friday."
On the defensive performance...
"I think the defense has been playing well for the last several games. We've really been working on our communication and on our aggressiveness. We've got a great group of defenders out there that are leading the midfielders, and I think our middies coming off the bench are doing a great job at matching up against the other team's top middies. When you have good team effort like that, it makes a huge difference. I'm really excited about the momentum our defense is gaining. It's been several games now -- I would say at the start of the Virginia game is where we started to step it up -- and we've really carried that performance through."
Junior Shannon Smith
On the team's crisp, effective passing...
"I think it's a testament to our focus out there. We really worked on that all week, and we stressed the point of not making those silly turnovers and running closer to the person we're passing it to."
On whether this was the best game NU had played all season...
"Yes. I would say it definitely is. Overall, offensively and defensively, especially on the draw controls, we were really focused throughout the whole game. We didn't have dropped passes and on missed throws we were always there for ground balls. On defense when they got checks off, and there were bad shots or passes from Albany, our team was there to get those ground balls on defense."
Sophomore Erin Fitzgerald
On the balance of scoring on offense...
"I think it's great. Our team just really has such great chemistry this year, and our offense has been working so well together. We just support each other and back each other up, which allows other people to get openings. The balance of scoring is just everyone working hard, backing each other up, and working for each other."
Albany Head Coach John Battaglino
Opening Statement...
"I wish it was like last week. I tried to prepare them for the speed and intensity we knew Northwestern was going to attack with. It's just hard to generate that in practice when we have 15 field players, of which only about 10 are healthy. Again, I've seen it before, they're going to force you into a lot of mistakes you wouldn't normally make. I saw our freshman make a lot of freshman mistakes like some sloppy passes. We just didn't engage Northwestern early enough, and then by the time we started to the game had gotten away. I've watched some film of them this year, and that's the best I saw them play. Some of it was because they capitalized every time we made mistakes. Hats off to them for taking advantage; I also didn't feel like we did things consistently enough to slow them down."
Attack Jodi Battaglia
On the athleticism of Northwestern...
"We've had glimpses of it this season; UMBC was a pretty high pressure team, and Dartmouth pressured us pretty well. Like Coach [Battaglino] said, it's hard to mimic it in practice with the numbers we are limited to. They are a very athletic team, very skilled, and well coached. More power to them, they played a great game. We obviously came out a little flat-footed. We were aware we were going to be pressured; we just didn't handle it as well as we thought we would be able to. They came out hard, better than we've seen from all the tapes."
Midfielder Nikki Branchini
On the preparation and performance of backup turned starting goalie Brett Yenger...
"I think we tried to build up a confidence all week, trying to give her the shots she were going to see in the game. We tried to make it easier on her, but we didn't bring our best stuff defensively today. We didn't make stops when we needed to, but I think she handled the situation well. She did the best that she could, and I'm proud of her."
