On the atmosphere and thoughts of the season opener:
“The atmosphere with the fans, the set up of all the pregame activities, the lead up to the match with everything off the field was absolutely amazing, and we can’t ask for a better welcome back to the season. The fans were simply amazing.”
“The first 20 minutes we started really well. When Jun scored to put us up by two, we were in a really good possession position. The VAR decision was a lot of the girls’ first experience on the field, when the game gets stopped for so long. That kind of changed things, allowing Gotham to change their shape, which made it a bit harder for us to break them down. They scored the two goals which we're disappointed with, but we've looked back at the game and can see we've got a lot of good players and depth this season. We just need to tweak a few things so we don't concede as many goals.”
On playing with Alyssa Thompson:
“She's brilliant. She's started off really well and I'm really excited to play with her the rest of the season. She's so fast so for me, if I can receive it, open up, and see her, I like to find her in behind because I know she has that pace. She's also great at crossing the ball as well. Most of the time when she has the ball, I'm just thinking hurry up. I need to get in the box before she gets there so I can get on the end of a cross. It's exciting because as soon as she gets the ball, we're attacking. I love playing with her.”
On returning to Orlando:
“I love Florida. I have a lot of good friends there, as well as good memories. I haven’t actually played against Orlando yet, since last season when we went there I had an injury. I'm looking forward to getting on the pitch and playing at Exploria stadium again.”
On the positive takeaways from Sunday:
“For periods of the game we played really well. The opening 20 minutes, we came out with a good intensity, good desire, and created really good opportunities. We showed that we could still create chances in the dying moments, but we learned a little bit about ourselves in terms of our responses to VAR decisions, when things didn't particularly go our way.”
On signing Scarlett Camberos:
“Scarlett has been a great addition. She was on our radar, playing last year. We also got to see her do her thing when we played against Mexico at BMO Stadium last year. What she offers for us is again, another forward who can help us apply pressure to opposition throughout 90 minutes with our strong forward line. She's dynamic, great on the dribble, and good at combining. She'll be a great fit in this league.”
On challenges she expects going into Sunday’s match:
“Orlando is always a tough place to play. They will probably be disappointed with the result that they had against Portland, looking to make that right, especially with it being their first home game of this regular season. We're going to see a very competitive Orlando team come out. There may be some changes with their line up as a result.”
“There's an element where they may be a little unpredictable. They have a threat in Marta, who’s absolutely incredible with coming back from her injury and being in great form. They've got other really good threats. I was impressed with Adriana, when she played. The score line necessarily reflects what Orlando has, as they faced a very good Portland team who was excellent. The team's going to be reeling from that and will come out incredibly competitive on Sunday.”