2009 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship - Day Three
5/10/2009 8:00:00 AM | Water Polo
May 10, 2009
Postgame Quotes
Game 9: No. 7 Marist 16, No. 8 Cal Lutheran 11
Marist Red Foxes
Head Coach Ashleigh Jacobs
On the victory:
"It is a huge load off our back. Our goal was to win one game at the NCAA Championship. We didn't want to stop there, we were hoping for the two wins. We came off a tough loss yesterday. We were just hoping to play our game and just play four quarters of water polo."
On the experience of the NCAA Tournament:
"I think there is a lot of energy at the NCAA tournament. It really showed our team that we have to play up tempo. They knew they could do it, they have trained to do it and it's just a matter of putting it into action. I think there was great energy the entire weekend; you could see it building all three days."
Senior Katelin McCahill
On the victory:
"It feels great to accomplish what we wanted to. We did a lot of the things this season that we strived for and it just feels great to go out with a win. It's good for us to be able to represent the MAAC and win a game here at NCAAs."
On the playing tough in the tournament:
"These games are a big deal here and I think that everyone knew that with this being an NCAA Championship game. We pushed forward and kept playing strong defense."
On team defense:
"We rallied around each other on defense and had some quick counter goals which always help. Our team's defense turned into offense which is what our team thrives off."
Cal Lutheran Regals
Head Coach Craig Rond
On the game:
"I thought it was real physical. I guess that's water polo. We never gave up hope, kept fighting and gave a great effort, so that was nice"
On the experience of the team's first NCAA appearance:
"Great. It was awesome. It was a great honor for us and we really hope that we have set a bar for our program so that we can keep coming back as long as the NCAA tournament committee will have us."
Game 10: No. 6 Michigan 11, No. 5 Loyola Marymount 7
Michigan Wolverines
Head Coach Matt Anderson
On the victory:
"We were playing with an opportunity to prove that we were better than we were seeded. They were playing with the opportunity to send this senior class out with a victory. That is what they did in the third and fourth quarters; they were doing it for their teammates. It was a beautiful thing to watch."
On the team's underclassmen:
"This whole weekend, our younger players stepped up. We are losing a huge part of our program with our graduating seniors but the program is solid and we have a lot of quality players coming back. We are very excited for the future."
Senior Cara Reitz
On her 5-meter shot in the fourth quarter:
"I was ready to take the shot as hard as I could, place it in the corner but she blocked it. I got the ball back and was able to slam it in."
On team momentum:
"Once we start scoring goals, that's something our team is good at, keeping the momentum. Once we start getting on a roll, we keep it going."
Loyola Marymount Lions
Head Coach John Loughran
On play at the NCAA tournament:
"This tournament we seemed to be rushing things at the wrong times and passing up shots. We never really got into a rhythm this weekend that would enable us to play as well as we could."
On the loss to Michigan:
"Our timing was off and we were not taking the right shots. Obviously we had some momentum going into the fourth quarter and we just couldn't hold onto it."
On the fourth quarter run by Michigan:
"We shot the 0-for-7 in the fourth quarter and that was the turning point in the game. I thought we worked hard but we just stopped playing defense the way we needed. Michigan got hot and hit some good outside shots and that took the wind out of us."
On the success of the season: "This loss does not define our season at all. We really had some nice improvements as a group. We had outstanding play at our conference championship. A number of players developed well and the team developed."
Game 11: No. 2 Stanford 14, No. 4 Hawai'i 11
Stanford Cardinal
Head Coach John Tanner
On the win:
"It's so disappointing that we're playing in the third place game after the way things played out last night, it was incredibly difficult to come back here. I'm incredibly proud of our seniors and our whole team for playing really well. This was an impressive way to finish things off."
"The best thing that we could do when we woke up this morning was to play well and finish the season off with a win and send our seniors out in impressive fashion."
Senior Driver Lauren Silver
On scoring a tournament-high eight goals:
"I feel like I kept getting that extra second that other teams might not have let me get all season and it helps that I shot pretty well. One of my very first water polo coaches is here, he watched me grow up, and he gave me a few pointers after my game yesterday, like to remember to get back into a rhythm. After a disappointing loss, you have to get back to what you like doing and why you like water polo, which is what I did and it worked pretty well."
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine
Head Coach Michel Roy
On the game:
"Stanford's a good team. They have a couple of great shooters, they have some great center forwards, and John Tanner is a great coach. Stanford's always been in the top two or three teams in the nation. That was our whole goal to beat them, to get in the top three, but I guess we'll just have to wait another year."
On which players stood out:
"I'm pleased with [Saara] Majuri, she went up and down, she swum a lot and swum with those girls. But to me the guards did pretty well. Kelly [Mason] is a good two-meter guard. Ryan [Hanson-Swaner] had some good moments too when she was at two-meter guard. (Melissa Seidemann) is a strong girl; she's a future world-class center forward, there's no doubt about that. Dagmar [Genee] played solid and I'm really happy with Dagmar and Jaime [Aoki]. Carmen [Eggens] played well. Lisa [van Raalte] scored a couple of goals so I'm pleased with that. But we expected more out of all of them to have to win this game. We got some great effort, we played hard, but we needed to be a little bit luckier on shooting the balls and scoring goals."
Game 12: No. 3 UCLA 5, No. 1 USC 4
UCLA Bruins
Head Coach Adam Krikorian
On the game:
"It may be one of the most improbable wins that we've had. I knew going into the game that defense was going to be the key. I knew that we were going to have a hard time scoring 11 goals like we did last night, and so I knew we had to play good defense. It started with our goalkeeper, Brittany Fullen, who did an amazing job and everyone defensively stepped up their game. We picked a heck of a time to have our best defensive effort of the year. I mean to go an entire half without scoring and still be able to win is incredible."
USC Trojans
Head Coach Jovan Vavic
On the game:
"I told the girls after the game that they battled hard. They never gave up. It was one of those games where we tried everything and our shots just didn't go. We were 4 for 34 shooting. I don't think I was ever part of a game where we were 4 out of 34. We created counter-attack opportunities and they it just didn't go in today. There were too many bar downs. We played good 5-on-6 defense. We kept them to five goals and we usually score 12. I have to give UCLA credit today, they shut us down."
On the season:
"This team really had a great season and one game doesn't change it. Yes we lost the final game, but we still won 26 games and lost only two. We had so many new players on this team from the beginning. We had some work to do to put this team together to be where it is. Don't forget, this UCLA team has six or seven girls coming back from last year's championship game, they had experience and know how to win in big games. We did not have that experience. We learned this year and we learned last year how hard it is to win those. But I feel that, as a team, we grew tremendously this year."
Senior Driver Michelle Stein
On her performance:
"I took a lot of shots that were blocked or missed. We had a lot of opportunities they just weren't going in."
On the season:
"Our team grew and we had great chemistry and we won a lot of big games. But when it comes down to it at the end, it's tough to beat a team more than once, especially when it's a close game every time you beat them. We beat them twice and the third game was particularly tough."
