Tengarrinha‘s View
With Lexington being a very defensively minded team, what was the strategy in practice this week and just the thought process of how to attack their great line of defense?
“I’m not sure if they are a very defensive minded team. I think they have a very good team, yes. I think they are now in second, waiting for the result of Sporting Jax, but they are in second right now. The strategy was try to defend better, and try to defend better than what we did against Carolina, and try to have our chances, and when we get the ball back, try to explore some weaknesses that we identify on them and, yeah I think overall, I would say that we were better than them in the first. Today, I’m not sad but I’m frustrated and pissed. I can say pissed, yes, because these girls, they need more. They deserve more. Because what they did, what our players did today, they deserve at least a tie.”
With Catherine Zimmerman out of the lineup today. Did you guys feel her absence at any point, or did you guys feel like you guys held it, held the ship down, and did your best?
“Of course, everybody knows, and this is a common feeling inside of the locker room, the value that Zim has for us and the importance that she has for us. And of course, when we have a short roster like we have, and when we miss a player like her, it’s difficult, and it’s something that we cannot hide. But yeah, that’s why we have players to replace others. So yes, we try to do our best with the solutions that we have. Keep fighting and keep doing our job.”
What are you looking forward to reworking or reorganizing with the next practice ahead of the next game?
“I think we are arriving at a part of the season that becomes a little bit more heavy, and the energy is dropping because we are just about six games to finish the season. And of course, we know that we need to do a lot of math to get to the playoffs, but we need to keep fighting. This is our DNA. This is the team that we have. This is something that we have been showing since the beginning. I think, with all difficulties that we have, I’m the most proud coach, probably in the league, because these girls, what they do, it’s amazing, because only they know how difficult it is. But they keep fighting and they keep doing. So what I’m trying to do now is recover, give them the rest that they need, and try to recover well. And of course, focus on the little details and the things that we need to score more and and, yeah, and get ready to play against Sporting Jax away.”
Match Reactions
Jennifer Cudjoe, Midfielder, #6
What did you see from the second half, apart from the first half that you thought was working on the field?
“I feel like our team, everybody kind of gets the role, and the little changes that we did in the second half really helped us. It gave us more numbers in the attack and more numbers in the red field as well, so that we can match them and also expose spaces. So I think we did better job in winning first balls, second balls, and also the pressure that we started with that was working for us. So that’s what we did. And then I think we deserve the win, obviously, but I’m part of the team. I think we came out and we did everything we could to win.”
How do you feel like the matchup was from a physical standpoint?
“They’re a very tall, big team, but the game played in different moments. And like you said, they are physical. They used it a lot, but were able to hold them. And I think we know that playing the ball on the second half was the best for us to be able to play through them. And I think it showed that second half we used what we had to do.”
Samantha Kroeger, Midfielder, #3
What needs to happen, collectively or with yourself individually, to make sure this team has a fighting chance to make that great push?
“I think obviously there’s a lot of time left. I think for us, it’s just focusing on one game at a time. We can’t really look into the future or worry about other teams, but I think for us, it’s just focusing on the small details daily in training, and trying to do the best that we can to win our next match, next week away, which is hard.”
How do you feel that you’ve been doing as a team capitalizing with your chances in space?
“I think obviously, what you saw today, we had a lot of chances in the second half. Lexington didn’t really get out of their own defensive half. And I think for us, it’s just focusing a lot on the details in the final third, just finishing your shot when you have the chances, because obviously, sometimes you don’t get that many, and obviously the one is the most important to finish in the back of the net. So I think for us, it’s just focusing on the clinical part, being finishers in front of goal, and then just working on our set pieces as well. We’ve had a lot of good opportunities in the past, with our set pieces, and I think that we can focus on that to be a threat for next week.
