Nov. 13, 2009
Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe
Opening Statement...
"I thought it was a good performance. We scored two good goals and generated 39 shots. Overall it was a good performance and a good start to the playoffs for us."
On his message to the team at halftime...
"I told them that I thought we were playing well. I thought we were creating good chances for ourselves, but I also told them to be more aggressive. I told them to get after it. I give Northern Arizona credit. They played tough. Their goalie was making big saves. They played a solid game against us and it took two really good goals to break the ice against them and get the victory."
On the experience the team will get from playing a tough game in the first round...
"I think it's good for the team to cherish a victory and not to just expect it to come easily in the playoffs. All the teams you meet are strong teams. Northern Arizona is a strong team and you have to earn the win. We are going to expect that from now on. Every team we play is very good."
On their next opponent BYU...
"BYU is a solid team, there's no doubt about that. We are going to have to play well against them to get the victory."
Forward Christen Press
On if the team was frustrated by not being able to score in the first half...
"We were a little bit towards the end, but we have been scoring more in the second half of games, so we had to just be patient and not get frustrated with it."
Forward Kelley O'Hara
On her assist to Christen Press who scored on a header in the second half...
"I just remember chasing down the ball and I looked up and she was making the approach run, so I just chipped it in there and she did a really good job of getting her head on it and found the back of the net."
On not being able to score in the first half...
"For me, at the end of the first half it was frustrating, but we know we are going to score eventually. We had to just kind of laugh it off and say that we are just going to keep doing what we are doing and it's going to go in. If we stick to our game plan and work the ball around, get our shots off, it is eventually going to go in."
Midfielder Teresa Noyola
On Northern Arizona keeping more of its players back on defense...
"I think that was definitely NAU's game plan. They put everyone behind the ball, but we kind of expected that. A lot of teams have played like that against us. It was just a matter of breaking them down. I think they got lucky a lot in the first half, but you can only hit the post so many times. We eventually broke them down, but that was definitely their game plan against us."