Nov. 16, 2007

NCAA FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Penn State Postgame Quotes

HEAD COACH CHARLENE MORRETT
On tonight's game:
"I just can't continue to say how proud I am of this group. I think when you watch them play, they play with such fire and such determination. They really take advantage of opportunities inside the circle. Wake Forest is a very, very talented team. They had a great passing game going and we were able to get some pressure on them and create some transitional play for us."

On team's defense in last two games:
"Our defense is effort from the forwards on down. It's just impressive. They know, we talk about it a lot, how important it is for us to play good defense, get pressure on the ball and create some turnovers. It starts with the forwards and their attitudes and filters all the way down through the deep defense. Jen Long did a great job of stepping up and coming through."

JUNIOR GOALKEEPER JEN BEAUMONT
On keeping Wake Forest scoreless:
"I think it was huge because, like in the Maryland game, they just came up the field. I think it's important because once you get one, you get the fire behind you, so it's a lot easier to have momentum. To see that big zero up there is always a big positive for the whole team."

SENIOR SHAUN BANTA
On scoring the team's second goal:
"Well it took me five years to learn how to play defense, but I finally had my stick down a couple times and got the pass. We talked about their goalie being good and coming out. I tried to pull around her and I saw the open goal. It was really exciting."

Wake Forest Postgame Quotes

HEAD COACH JENNIFER AVERILL
On the team's performance
"It is obviously disappointing; if you are going to lose you want to go out with a well-fought, hard game. I am going to give a lot of credit to Penn State. They outplayed us tonight and they were the better team. They frustrated us and we just couldn't get into any sort of rhythm. It is hard to end this season with a loss like that. I don't mind losing, I just don't like losing the way we did."

On Penn State's defense
"They were very disciplined and it reminded me of the last time we saw them. Especially, at the last couple of minutes we were inside the circle and they were just relentless. I know that when the two teams met before it was a different scenario. They were very tough in there and very poised."

AILEEN DAVIS
On Wake's Offense
"I think we were mainly trying to settle people down on the field, because we became a little frantic and Penn State remained very calm and composed. We just wanted to start playing our game to settle down and transfer the ball around, but they were putting a lot of pressure on and we ended up trying to force things too much and they ended up getting fast breaks against us."