Quotes - Duke 2, California 1

Duke
Head Coach Robbie Church

Thoughts on the game...
"Well it was a strange game. I felt we got played off the field in
the first half - we were fortunate to be in the game. We were nervous,
we were a little scared, we panicked with our passes. It didn't look
like us. To concede a goal with eight seconds left (in the opening half)
and come back and win the game is unbelievable, it really was. We just
showed the character of this team. There was 45 minute left in the game
and you've got to play 45 minutes, but I am just very, very happy with
this group. I though we possessed the ball in the second half. We played
much quicker, we changed our point of attack, we were much more
aggressive in our touches, and in our mindset going forward. It's
good. It's going to be very tough on Sunday but we will worry about
that tomorrow. We're just going to enjoy this tonight."

Freshman Midfielder Kaitlyn Kerr

On how she was able to score...
"We have been working on set plays a lot in practices and I just try
to make myself available. They keep on elbowing you during set plays but
I just kind of establish my spot and flicked it over."

On what changed from the first half to second half...
"I think we realized after the first half that we didn't play our
game and we just tried to settle ourselves down, compose, and play the
ball to the feet."

Freshman Forward Laura Weinberg

On getting her goal within a minute of the first goal...
"We just brought the energy. We knew after we were down that we had
to tie it up, so everyone was just pumped and had energy to get the
second one. We knew we had to get ahead."

On turning the game around in the second half...
"We weren't playing our game. We were not possessing the ball and
we were getting pushed around. They are a physical team. We just came
out in the second half composed. We knew we had to get one back and we
got the equalizer and it all just fell into place."

California
Head Coach Neil McGuire

Opening Statement:

On: Your overall thoughts of the match...
"We knew coming in that this was more than likely going to be a one
goal game...two very, very talented teams. All credit goes to Coach Church
and his staff for getting his team prepared and we wish them all the
best."

On: Dominating most of the game and losing focus during the one minute
stretch that led to two Duke goals...
"We're a fairly young team. We have four or five freshmen who are
starting for our team and I think that we got rattled. At this point in
the season you can't be that way. You know, we gave up a bad foul to
give away the first goal and then from there we just didn't remain
composed. I thought we played extremely well and I was very proud of the
players."

On: What can you take away from this game for next season...
"Well, I mean this is great experience. When you come out and you can
play as well as you did for long periods of time...throughout the season
we played extremely well and these are just difficult times but we'll
just regroup and go from here."

Midfielder Betsy Hassett

On: Your overall thoughts on the game...
"It was a close game. I thought we dominated most of it but we were
just unlucky and lost a little bit of composure at the end and let a
couple of goals in."

On: Losing focus for the two Duke goals...
"I think we just lost concentration for a couple minutes and it cost
us the game."