On her approach this season:
“My goal was to make myself a more versatile player. I knew there was a chance they might have wanted me to play on the left or the right in the back line. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for any type of change they wanted, which was a big one for me in the offseason.”
“Coming into this season my focus is being very flexible in what my role might be, as well as taking more leadership through set pieces, off-field, and on-field now that I have a better understanding of how everything works.”
“Also I want to make sure I do what I can to help the team mesh with all the new players. I am still working on those qualities. It's a daily task. You can always get better, whether that be having a conversation with someone you might not talk to as much or being okay with being wrong when speaking up and then learning from it. Those are the processes that you go through on a daily basis, which is a continuous learning cycle.”
On the club’s second season in the NWSL:
“This year, we see ourselves as established. We have an identity, a framework, and a team that we're very secure in. We built off of what we finished last year to the point where we're a force to be reckoned with this year. There is a style of play and grit that you're going to get out of Angel City at every single game, regardless of where you are or what the weather is. We will be as consistent as we can possibly be.”
On her how she can help when there is team fatigue:
“My youth days prepared me for the times of feeling tired because not every day is going to be your best day. You might not be on point tactically or not see everything tactically, but at the end of the day, you can always give attitude and effort. Giving your best attitude and greatest effort is always going to be infectious.”
“The really cool thing about being at this level is everyone's so competitive. Regardless of how tired you are, everyone digs deep and will always give you that attitude, effort, and communication. The performance might not always be the prettiest, but like that grit I talked about earlier. We saw it in the Orlando game, where we didn't look our best soccer, but we dug deep.”
“We have grit, we want to always push, we have the attitude that we will win. We have the effort, and we're looking at some of our numbers and some of our highest minutes of running, we’re coming at the end of the game. No one ever falters, despite how tired you are, we build off of each other. We feed off of each other's positive energy, and the team does a great job of building one another up and giving information that can help make things easier on everyone else.”
“We have a very open line of communication, but at the end of the day it comes down to our attitude and our effort. That’s something you can expect from us on any given day regardless of how tired we are.”
On losing Simone Charley to season-ending injury:
“It's been really tough. She has been playing really well and changed the game when she came in at Orlando. She gave a burst of energy, her touches were great, and she looked threatening in front of the goal. It’s really unfortunate to pick up that injury, it's hard to replace her in terms of her personality, energy, and contribution on the field. Now, we have to look at our timelines of return for some of our players. For example, if Syd [Leroux} can come in, that would be a good replacement for someone like Simone.”
On upcoming match vs. Racing Louisville FC:
“I think they've made some really good roster improvements, and I think a big one is having Abby Erceg at center back. I really enjoyed watching them play last year. They were good on the ball. Defensively, especially in moments of transition, they looked very vulnerable, but have firmed that up a lot with bringing back Abby [Erceg] and then adding defender Carson Pickett to their roster in order to firm up that back line.” “Demelo is a great player as well. She’s good on the ball, but also with Wang coming into the team, they have a really good attacking threat and again, continues a great style of being able to keep the ball. They’re a very talented team.”
On the FIFA break and upcoming schedule:
“It's always hard to see a lot of your team go this early in the season when we've only played two league games. It’s great for the club to have so many players representing their countries at the international level, but the break gave us a good opportunity to focus on some of our basics and some of our standards. That's been our focus during this two-week period.”
“Now the games are coming thick and fast, with Louisville on Saturday, a midweek Challenge Cup game, followed by San Diego that next Sunday. Now it's just full focus on the games that are coming up.”