Minnesota 2 Marquette 1

Postgame Quotes

Marquette Quotes

Marquette Head Coach Markus Roeders

Opening statement

“Congratulations to Minnesota winning the game and advancing. It’s difficult for us as a team to end the season this way, especially for our seniors. I thought we didn’t start the game very well. Obviously the early goals by Minnesota made a difference. Our team was a little too emotional trying to control the play and out of that came the first goal. The second one came not that far after, which put us in a hole. However, we did a much better job in the second half and we settled the game down a little bit. Overall, it was a hard fought game on both sides. I’m really proud of our squad because we fought and got one goal back and then even had a good shot in the last 10 seconds of the game. We knew how difficult Minnesota was going to be and that they haven’t given up too many goals this year.”

On playing Chelsey Turner

“We had thought about it as a staff and we’ve had goalkeeper rotations throughout the year. We are blessed because we have two very good goalkeepers who can play. We wanted to get both of them playing time tonight. When you are around the kids everyday you understand how they are and how they function. I think the second goal was kind of a hesitation by Turner, but anything beyond the six yard line is difficult for a goalkeeper to handle.”

On Marquette’s goal

“A lot of times goals come down to set plays. The good teams score on their set plays. A good ball was played in and I think the goalkeeper couldn’t hang onto it. Allie McBride put the ball away. She was in the right place, right time.”

Minnesota Quotes

Senior Midfielder Kelsey Hood

On her goal

“I think one of the defenders miss hit the ball and the goalkeeper took her eye off the ball. I was there and the ball hit off my kneecap and went threw the goalie’s hands.

On the physical play of the game

“When the season is on the line you are going to play with everything you have. If it comes down to fouling because you want it so bad, you’re going to do it. We knew it was going to be a physical game. Towards the end it got scary, but we hung in there.”

Senior Midfielder Lindsey Schwartz

On the midfield’s performance

“I think the midfield did a great job defending and keeping Marquette onside. I also think they did a good job at winning the 50-50 balls, which is big because it keeps the ball in the other team’s half.”

On taking the lead early

“Getting up by two goals in the first 15 minutes puts the other team in a tough position. We know we put a lot of pressure on the other team. I know we gained a lot of confidence from the early lead. There were some parts of the game where it got a little scary, but I thought we handled them really well. I think we need to continually score early because we can carry that confidence for the rest of the game.”

Senior Midfielder Julie Rezak

On the physical play of the game

“Both teams really wanted to win and there were so many hard tackles by both teams. The yellow cards showed this”

Head Coach Mikki Denney Wright

On winning her first NCAA Tournament game

“The hardest win is always the first win. We haven’t been in the tournament before and so we didn’t really have the experience. I thought the team came out in a great way. They were very composed and it started from the get-go. We handled the game very well and to kill the game the way we did was amazing. It’s very difficult to control the end of the game and for us to do it the way we did, showed a lot of composure for us.”

On the team’s strategy for South Dakota State

“We know each other so well, which makes things even more difficult. The key against South Dakota State is that it’s tough to score against them. So, we need to finish our chances. It’s going to come down to us executing in the final third of the game and finishing chances against that team.”

On keeping the players fresh

“We need to give the players days off. The players are so incredibly fit because of what they put in during the summer. I would say we are one of the fittest teams in the Big Ten if not the nation. We’ve been extremely healthy from all the work that the players put during the summer. We are completely healthy right now and having that in the tournament is fantastic.”