Post Game Quotes: UIC

Michigan State Head Coach Damon Rensing

Opening Statement….
First off, I just want to congratulate UIC head coach Sean Phillips and their program. Three-straight NCAA tournament appearances is no small feat. He runs a class program, they've got very, very good players. These were some tough conditions to play in obviously, so I just want to wish them all the best and congratulate them on a great year. They're very well coached and a very, very classy program. Conditions were obviously the same for both teams and I'm very proud of our guys. First before I get to our team, I just want to thank our grounds crew, our event management I mean all the time and hours that they put in here to get this going, to get this event running, to make this a first-class event and to make these student-athletes on both sides of the field feel like they were in a special event, and I think our athletic department and I don't want to thank certain names because I just think I'll leave somebody out but I want to thank our entire athletic department for their support and putting on a first class event.

On the importance of getting that first early goal…
It was huge, we've talked about it you know I think we've only scored six goals in the first half all year so to get two in the first half was huge. I like the fact that after we scored the first goal we didn't stop playing and looked for the second goal. Then we talked to our guys that we were going to play the same way until the 80^th minute, but we were up 2-0 and you just keep playing it and then the last 10 minutes maybe you get a little more conservative and change. I thought Ryan (Sierakowski) was a man up there just holding the ball up and playing off of DeJuan (Jones) and Hunter (Barone) did a great job. The subs, I think our depth showed in that game too I mean we used a lot of subs. The other thing in the locker room, I challenged seniors to show up and I think in NCAA Tournament events and games you need your seniors, you need everybody to play well, but you need your seniors to play like seniors. When I look at Jimmy Hague in goal, John Freitag, Hunter scoring, DeJuan getting assists, Sierakowski and others were fantastic.

On the senior leadership he saw today…
Most of the time it's very good you know every once in a while, sometimes those seniors grip a little too tight because they want it so bad and play a little tight. But I think our guys had a really good balance with that. They played like this could be their last game, and yet they played confident. I think the fact that they've been in these games before really came through in this match.

On if they did anything different tactic wise…
No, I mean I feel confident in the way we play. We're not going to change a lot, and we just want to do what we do a little bit better. Believe this or not, we worked on a lot of stuff going to goal, because we've only scored six goals in the last eight games, so we did a lot of practicing in front of the goal and gave the guys confidence back. We started to just look at video and films from what we did in the first half of the year and we really tried to get back to that. Again, I'm very proud of the effort and it was really well done.

On what he knows about Louisville…
I know they're good, you win the ACC Tournament and you're good. Ken Lolla (Louisville Coach) has been there for a long time, one of the top coaches in the business. They have a good team, they're on a run, they don't give up a lot of goals. It will be difficult, I mean I did peak ahead, it is I think going to be 52 degrees, so you know last time I think we played Louisville in the NCAA tournament it was almost an ice rink back in 2013. We will be excited to go down, it will be a very difficult match, but it will be fun. This is why you come to Michigan State, to play in these types of games.

On how to prepare for Louisville…
Well you don't prepare in practice, I think the way that we prepare is how we schedule. When you play at Notre Dame who's seeded, when you play at Maryland who's seeded, when you play at Indiana who's seeded that's how prepare. I can't just draw that out in practice and say, "hey we're playing a really hot team," you know UIC was a very hot team as well, so I think it's our schedule. We should be confident. We're certainly going to respect Louisville because they are very very good, but we should confident that we've played in these types of games and have succeeded. So, I think that's the key to it, that's why you play in the Big Ten Conference or the ACC because your challenged on every game. That's why in the non-conference we play the Akrons, we play the Notre Dames and the South Floridas and Tulsas because they're going to bring out those types of games. You're going to lose some tough ones, but you're going to win some tough ones and we have a tough one coming up on Sunday.

Michigan State forward Ryan Sierakowski

On getting some early goals despite the past few games…
It's been a tough few games. We started off the season strong; I think we scored 15 goals in four games and the ball wasn't really bouncing our way the last six games and tonight we had a strong emphasis on starting strong, putting them under pressure and having the belief that the ball would go in the back of the net which it did early and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

On how it felt playing with the snow piling up…
Yeah, it felt like I was playing in the backyard with my brothers again. It was fun, it was a great time but obviously it was tough to play on, but we dealt with it well.

On what this game does for his confidence going forward…
My confidence really doesn't wavier if I'm scoring or not. Obviously, it's great to score but going into every game with the belief that I will and the players around me that will serve the ball to me and if I'm not scoring I know other people will so that brings confidence.

Michigan State forward Hunter Barone

On what they were able to do to get those early goals…
I think just staying confident like you said we haven't been scoring a lot and the nice thing about the NCAA Tournament is it's almost like a start over kind of like a new season; so we trained hard. We worked hard on being aggressive in the box, and I think that all the hard training that we've put in in the last week we've had to rest just showed out there.

On if they had to change anything to accommodate to the weather….
No we've unfortunately had a lot of experience playing in the snowy weather, so I think that helped a lot but honestly. We didn't change much. We knew that there was a lot of snow but maybe we needed to go long a little bit, so I think that might have changed a little bit but other than that we just try to keep the same focus and just win.

On previous tournament experience helping in today's match…
Yeah, a lot last year we played Virginia Tech our first game and it was almost the same thing. It was snowing and we kind of just said you know we're going to go out there and we're going to put the pedal to the floor in the beginning and we actually got two very early goals against Virginia Tech too, so I think the experience helped us a lot with that.

UIC Head Coach Sean Phillips

Opening statement…
First, I would like to congratulate Michigan State on that win tonight. They were very efficient with their opportunities, something that doesn't surprise us. I knew coming in with a nine or a 10-day break, Coach Rensing and his staff would have them prepared. They are a very difficult opponent to play against. They were efficient this evening, they were very good at not allowing us to connect and get our rhythm going and they were efficient with their opportunities. Next thing, I mention is our out-going seniors, this group of eight won a trophy every single year they played for us. Regular season champions, three-straight NCAA Tournaments, three-straight Horizon League Championships, something which has never been done at UIC. I'm going to miss that group, and they've left an indelible mark on the program to get us to a point to where we are now and the game this evening.

On out-shooting MSU but falling down early 2-0…
Again, Michigan States been known for the ability to defend and be very efficient with their chances. Giving up two early was a hole that was going to be tough to climb out of. I felt pretty confident that we have the offensive ability to do it and as you mentioned, we created a good number of shots, but just were not efficient tonight. I think we go down 2-0 early in the first half, other than that it's a pretty interesting game the rest of the way.

UIC senior forward Max Todd

On playing in the snowy environment…
It did affect us. We are a quick passing team; we like to get the ball down, so obviously the snow on the field restricted us from doing that. But, it's not an excuse, they fought hard, and we committed two mistakes, and they scored the goals. It was always an uphill battle after their two goals.

On how he feels the season went…
It was a great season; we've done a lot of good things. Winning three-straight Horizon League Tournaments/Championships is quite an achievement, I'm sure next year they will win a fourth one. It's just a shame that we couldn't go the next step in the NCAA Tournament.

Players Mentioned

Hunter Barone

John Freitag

Jimmy Hague

Ryan Sierakowski

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