NCAA Tournament Third Round - Post-Game Quotes
11/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Michigan State head coach Damon Rensing
Opening Statement...
First off, I just want to say congratulations to the University of Washington. They are a very classy program and a very good soccer team. I have a lot of respect for the coaching staff and how they handle their program. Darwin Jones played today he has been out for a couple of weeks. This team with Darwin Jones in the lineup is not a fourteen seed. They are a top four or five seed with him.
I just want to say that our guys played well today. I'm happy with how we started the half. The goal came against a run play Washington came out hard in the second half. It was sort of a weird goal, good strike by (James) Moberg. The second one caught us off guard a little bit.
What I told our guys was that this game was all about their character today. Being down 2-0, there are a lot of ways this game could go, and they responded. It wasn't about the coaching staff today; it was about all 24 guys and their character. It wasn't about me our assistants, it was about the character of the guys on the field and they never gave up. That is a credit to them.
I thought once we got that first goal to bring it to 2-1, you could feel the momentum changing and our guys stayed composed and kept going. When you look at it, we could have given up, but we didn't. We stayed together and kept in the game.
Obviously a great play by Zach Carroll to play the header in to lead Timmy (Kreutz), who is a forward that scores goals. I give Timmy credit. He has been banged up all year and may not have had the year he wanted, but he's come in and worked every day and I am happy to see him rewarded with that.
Penalty kicks are the toughest thing in soccer, winning or losing on them, but again it comes down to character. Our guys stepped up. Our goalkeeper made a couple good guesses to fluster them. Then our guys stepped up and stuck the ball in the net. That is what you have to do to advance. I'm very proud of our team, very proud of that we are able to represent the Big Ten further on into the Elite Eight.
On practicing penalty kicks...
Yes we do. You can over-practice them at times. Our goalies will know where our shooters are going, so it becomes a bit unrealistic. We do it about once a week and once we feel they are in a good place with it, we shut it down. We did it yesterday to get used to the grass.
On the setup for Washington's goals...
We will go watch the film and determine. We don't like to give up restart goals. The first one wasn't, but just balls played in the eighteen and usually we are pretty good at that. We will go and look at that and definitely work on it and sometimes you just have to give the other team some credit to. The ball popped out and the kid hit a good shot. The second one was kind of bang bang and he put it on goal. We will go back and look at the video and see if anything needs to be corrected.
On being a "team of destiny"...
I think that you have to kind of get going in this tournament. Oakland was a tough draw. I could even see in the way our players look and talk that we were just happy to get out of that game. I thought you could see that in our play, as we played really well today. We played like a real Michigan State team today. Right now, once you get done with today, there are going to be eight teams left who think that they are the team of destiny. We can't really worry about that. This team has something that I am proud of. We have a winning mentality and I believe we are capable of doing it, but again there are eight teams that believe that as well.
We will be back at again with the home field. The crowd was awesome today. The rowdies were very engaged. It was nice to see alumni come in from all over the state. It was nice to see Coach Bob there today. That is special to win this game for them as well. Not just for these guys but are athletic department and university, and for our alumni.
Washington head coach Jamie Clark
Opening Statements...
That's the beauty of sport, if things like that didn't happen, people wouldn't love them. It's pretty straightforward thinking. When it goes your way, you love them and when it doesn't, you hate them. That's a good, resilient Michigan State team that fought to the end and never quit. Good bouncer too, good bouncer too to get us up, good bouncer to get them back up into the game, a lot of credit to them for their fight. I feel bad for this group, because it's a group that I believe could've gotten themselves to the college cup and won something, but nothing's given. You have to earn everything, so credit to Michigan State for everything.
On the severity of the loss...
I don't think it really matters if you're up 5-0 or 2-0, in the end, your season is over. That's the thing that hurts is that you get a great group and you don't get to play together anymore. Sure, you'll look and think you let one slip away, but in the end, all you wanted to do is play next week. If we'd won in penalties, we wouldn't have worried about giving up two goals in the last 15 minutes. We don't get to play next week and that's what hurts.
On getting taxed toward the end of the Pac-12 season...
I thought we came out and played a very poor first half for whatever reason. I don't know why. It may be travel or tired legs from last week. I'm not sure; it's hard to put your finger on anything. I thought we rebounded and played well in the second half to get ourselves the lead. It was an unfortunate thing to get them back in the game, I think we were still doing well. I think towards the end of the game, we were exhausted, but I think we were pretty tired too.
Michigan State senior forward Tim Kruetz
On his nose...
Not sure if it is broken or not, we will get it checked out after this. I don't know who played it in but a flick over the top and I saw my opportunity to get to the ball before the goalie did. I did get to the ball before the goalie hit it to the left and then I got punched in the face. Next thing I remember was just getting up and something stuck up my nose.
He was definitely going for the ball. Zach does the same thing in that situation. It is just a timing, bang bang play. I just got to it a little bit earlier. It was no malicious intent on his part at all, kind of unfortunate for me.
Michigan State junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett
On the second goal allowed...
It was a long throw. They had been pretty dangerous on long throws all game. We knew we had to deal with it. It got knocked down. I forget who tried to clear it and it hit some body part to keep it in. The ball bouncing and their guy turned and ripped it near post. I was just standing there as it hit my hand and went in. I never really saw it as it squeaked through two guys. Like Damon said, we don't like to give up restart goals so we will take a look at it. It was unfortunate that the ball wasn't cleared but it is something we have to deal with.
On his attitude as games go into overtime and penalty kicks...
Not necessarily like `oh my gosh' please score but I would rather not get down into penalty kicks because anything can happen. Someone can slip taking a penalty kick. I would rather get done in the game and not have to worry about it. Definitely not a guy who is freaking out back they're about having to deal with a penalty kick shootout. I had to do it in the Big Ten final and all throughout my career in high school. It is nothing I am freaking out about but if they want to get it done in overtime and not have to take it to penalties, I won't be hurt by it.
Washington sophomore midfielder Cristian Roldan
On the team's energy going into the game...
I think when you travel across the country or halfway through the country, that's going to also take a toll on your body, but no excuses. You're in the Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament, you should be coming out fired up, because you win or go home. No excuses, we came out poor and didn't show any type of energy. It took Jamie to kind of yell at us for our energy to boost. Give credit to Michigan State for being resilient and fighting back.
On playing Fatai Alashe today after competing with him in the off-season...
He's a tough player. Anytime you're friends with a tough player, it's kind of annoying on the field. He gets a couple pretty nasty tackles here and there. You're kind of his enemy on the field, but once the game is over, you guys are friends again. He's the base of their team and helps their back line, so credit to him for being that player the whole year. I'm sure he'll have a great future in the MLS.
