On her day and whether she was nervous:
“This morning, I woke up early because I was a little nervous and a little anxious. I went to school with my sister. I had English. Then I went back home. I was getting more nervous as time progressed. I was just trying not to think about it that much. My dad took me here and I slept in the car just thinking about the game. And then when I got here, I was just trying to focus and just try to feel comfortable because I was really nervous. Once I stepped on the field, I felt better. I felt comfortable with my teammates, and I felt prepared for the game and what was going to happen.”
On if scoring helped relax her:
“It definitely helped relax me. I felt like everything that I've prepared for up until this moment has helped me score that goal. Just feeling the hugs after and my teammates surrounding me was such an amazing feeling. It definitely took some weight off my shoulders.”
On if there is anything in particular she is learning from the veterans on ACFC:
“Yes, the quality of finishing. Once they have a chance, they take that and finish, so I feel like they've definitely held me to a higher standard in training, so that definitely helped me continue to grow.”
On how it felt to score her first professional goal in front of her hometown fans:
“It felt amazing and honestly surreal. I obviously wanted to go on the field and try my best and score. I was really happy. Being able to be surrounded by my teammates as I said was so amazing and the hugs and just everything that I worked for in this preseason kind of came to a good ending with that goal.”
On what it means to not only have her home town, but also have a country [the Philippines] behind her:
“It means everything to me. I think I come from so many different backgrounds and being able to inspire little girls that look like me, that want to play soccer and don't have someone to look up to. It's really cool. I never thought I would be doing it so young, but I think it's such a good opportunity for me to be here and inspire people.”
On Alyssa Thompson:
“It was a fantastic debut for her [Thompson] in front of the home supporters that we had. I thought she took the goal so coolly, like she had played in 100 games in this stadium. The occasion didn't put her off. I think she made the correct decision in the way in which she finished and swatted it home. I think that she looked threatening all night and was able to work. And I think she mentioned the communication with her teammates, which was evident with players like Claire Emslie putting her arm around her during the game, offering her words of advice, being able to advise her. And that makes such a difference. I think we're a team that's willing to support her and she's willing to support the team. So it's a great relationship.”
On how the team is coming along:
“We're making good progress. We're happy with the layers that we’re able to add in. Now tonight was a great example of us being able to give slightly more minutes to some players. We've been sharing minutes so far in preseason. It was a good chance to get some minutes with players and expose them to a bit of a challenge.”
“The exposure that they're having now of working together and that experience, it's coming together nicely. Obviously a preseason friendly is not the NWSL, it's not the long season that we have to go into. We're not going to get carried away or too excited. Club América came off of a game two days ago, so the big test now is going into the NWSL season where all the teams are hungry and have parity. They're all going out to win a
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