Nov. 11, 2006
Santa Clara, Calif. -
Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe:
Opening Statement: "I think we created a lot of good chances to score. We ended up scoring twice, which is good. I'm happy with the result. I'm a little disappointed about the goal at the end, but otherwise the team played well and scored two good goals."
(On Nevada) "They were a good team, a lot of desire there, very competitive. As you saw, in the last minute of the game, they're scoring a goal. That's the kind of fight they have. Looking at their record going into the game, they had beaten Oregon and they had also defeated Washington State from the Pac-10, two very good teams. I expected a very difficult game and I think they gave us a difficult game. It wasn't an easy win."
"We were trying to stick to our game plan and create chances and score goals. I think the critical goal was Ali's goal early on to break the ice for us. It gave us a lot of confidence. From there, we were still creating the chances, we just weren't scoring. They were pretty resilient in the back. Then, finally we broke through in the second half and scored again and then the game opened up for us. We were able to make some changes and things like that and then they scored late."
(On the team's play in the second half) "The hard part for me as a coach is I know how excited all the players are to be playing in the play-offs. If you lose you go home, if you win you keep playing. So I realize how much pressure it is on them, but you want to make sure you settle down as a team and play effective soccer and smart soccer. At halftime, I was trying to get them to be more composed. So more than being up by two goals, I think we were just trying to settle down and play better soccer. We can play better than we played today I think."
(On Sunday's game) "USC is a great team. We played them to a 0-0 draw in regular play down at USC. I thought they had a great game tonight. I was impressed with them, but we're going to get after them and see what we can do."
Freshman Forward Ali Riley:
"It felt good to score the first goal, but 1-0 is definitely a scary score to have so it was really good to get that second goal. I think we showed a lot of desire when we were playing."
Senior Defender Rachel Buehler:
"We definitely came out with a lot of heart and desire which is good. Hopefully we get better and better as tournament play goes on. We got two good goals."
(On the opponent for the next round) "I think Santa Clara and SC are both really good teams. Soccer is a game that on any given day, anybody can win. I'm excited that we're still playing. I think whoever we face, it will be a good game."
Nevada Head Coach Terri Patraw:
Opening Statement: "I thought we represented ourselves very well in the second half. We played scared in the first half, but Stanford is a great team, the best team we've seen all year and very fast."
"I think Stanford came at us quick. They have a lot of speed and we were just disorganized. We did make an adjustment formation-wise in the second half and I think that helped us, but I also think that our kids calmed down. We reminded them at halftime that we're a good team. That's how we got here. I told the team at halftime that Randee is one of the best athletes on the field and if we exert our will on them things will change. I think we did a much better job in the second half and Randee got a great goal there at the end."
(On Stanford) "I've been doing this a long time and that's as good a team as I've seen in a long time. I think Stanford is easily a top-10 team and they're going to go past the Sweet Sixteen. I think they'll do very well. They're just a tough team to beat. Based on what I saw in the first game, Stanford will win on Sunday easily. They would have beat Santa Clara or SC. They just have so much speed and are so organized. No. 4 in the back, I thought she was playing left back and both center backs every time we played the ball in there. They're very good. I think Stanford's going to do great things this year. They're pretty young too so they've got a great future."
(On Nevada's accomplishments) "I told everyone who would listen that we'd be competing for a WAC Championship at this point but never at the level that we played at. I'm just extremely proud of these kids. They've gotten just reward because they've done everything we've asked. We're very fit. I think fitness-wise we played with Stanford and they're obviously a very fit team as well."
Senior Defender Terran Hadlock:
"I'm very proud of this team. We worked really hard to get here and as a senior, you couldn't have left it any better than the NCAA Tournament. I was just extremely happy and proud of our team."
(On Stanford's second goal) "I felt like it was a little bit of a heart-sink. I felt like we had a lot of momentum going into the second half and I really felt like we were going to get a goal. It was just unfortunate that we got it after they scored. I always had faith that we were going to go out there and put one in the back of the net."
"I'm completely happy. When I came to this program, we had two losing seasons back-to-back and it was really tough and we had to fight through a lot of challenges. This team has just come full circle and I couldn't be happier and prouder of the people we ended it with. I'm very thankful for them and all the hard work that we all put into it."
Sophomore Defender Randee Robinson:
"In the first half, we came out a little scared and we didn't play the best we could, but in the second half, stepping off that field, we couldn't have tried any harder. We just did our best."
"Coaches always tell me that when I'm really aggressive and really loud the team feeds off that, so I think I was just doing my part and trying to raise our morale."
"I think this proves that we were able to play with them. I think if we'd have brought it out in the first half and played how we usually play, it would have been a different game. I'm not saying it would have been a different result, but it would have been a different game."