Nov. 18, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Stanford 3, Denver 1
November 18, 2012
Postgame Quotes
Stanford Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe
On the game ...
"I thought the team started the game very strong. We kept possession of the ball, created good opportunities, and I think that propelled us throughout the match."
On UCLA ...
"UCLA's a very strong team. I think it's going to be a fantastic match for the fans to watch and hopefully we'll come out on top."
On progressing through the tournament ...
"We have to play to the best of our ability. We have to keep possession of the ball, move the ball, good speed of play, find our rhythm, and we need to take our chances like we did today. We scored three great goals."
Senior Midfielder Nina Watkins
On the experience in previous Final Four teams ...
"There's ten of us seniors, so having all these girls together who I've gone through four years here at Stanford - we've been there. We've been to the Final Four. We know how much it means to us. We've lost, we've won, we've felt all the emotions and now, finally our senior year, we don't want to go away without a national championship."
Denver Head Coach Jeff Hooker
On the game ...
"These guys had a lot of talent, very well coached. Paul does a great job organizing them. Just good athletes, good soccer players and we needed for us to be our best and we needed for them to be not at their best. And that combination didn't happen today, but we came out and played. We didn't want to pack it in. We wanted to test ourselves and test our team, which I think we were able to do."
Senior Defenseman Rachel Quon
On the game ...
"I thought today we were very disciplined and we were very organized. And from the beginning, we wanted to play our soccer, keep the ball and keep possession. I think we did that very well today."
On the strong start ...
"I think once you score one goal, we can't just let up. We have to keep going and know there's still that 70 minutes. We have to take their pressure, but go back to our game plan of keeping the ball and possession."
On developing chemistry ...
"We have a deep team and anyone on our bench can step in and play, and I think you see it through Nina [Watkins], you see it through Maddie [Madeleine Thompson], you see it through Syd [Sydney Payne] - everyone on this team works hard and we're going to come together. Whoever's on the field is going to work hard and we're going to trust each other, and it's going to come together."