On her freedom on her side of the pitch:
“I think in the first half that wasn't really open for me. I wasn't really seeing the space I could take. We were not moving the ball in to out, out to in like we were looking to do. In the second half, the way we were moving the ball opened up that space a little more. I was able to find the ball out wide with perfect pings from Madison or Paige, to really take that space.”
On containing Kerolin:
“She’s a very talented player. She is good with her feet. As individuals we were good with that footwork. We were watching her footwork and giving it 100 percent. We were keeping her out wide, not giving her the chance to cut back in. That was what pushed us in the first half. When she was cutting inside was what was killing us, but we were able to push her back out wide in the second half.”
On the defensive performance:
“It is tough not to score and I think that is our goal moving forward, but we are putting pieces together. You can see it out there on the field and you can feel it too. It is just great that we got that point tonight.”
On facing former teammate Tyler Lussi:
“For me, I think in the first half I was playing passive and I was just kind of letting her have it. In the second half, as a team, we wanted to give them that pressure that we know we can give, and then we know we can come out of it. Being up her back is what one of my strengths is, not letting people have time on the ball and I just brought that in the second half.”
On overall match:
“I'm really proud of our group. It starts with communication. You don't have to defend when all the pieces are in place. We stuck to our details by keeping them outside, communicating, and blocking passing angles. Our box defending was good enough in the first half for us to survive, and we made sure to focus on our pressure in the second half.”
On outcome of the match:
“Earning the point tonight was huge, but there is still so much more you guys have to see.”
On facing former teammate Tyler Lussi:
“I know a lot of [the players in] this league. It's really really fun going up against old teammates and it motivates you to try and dominate your opponent.”
On thoughts on tonight’s match:
“We struggled to get into the first half. We were a little passive in terms of our pressure and that gave them too much opportunity for them to switch the ball, side track, and find players in the pocket.”
“When we did get on the ball, we were too easy to give it back to them in those transitional moments. We made an adjustment by trying to put more pressure in the second half. It was effective and K-Jo [Katie Johnson] led the line really well in terms of the pressure.”
“We're also much better in possession when we won it back. We took that extra little moment to be able to keep it. We also dealt with their attacking threat really well, with these two [M.A. Vignola and Paige Nielsen]. We came into it a lot more and could tell that we were building momentum and started to create more chances.”
On containing Kerolin:
“She’s a great player, but we were able to defend her well. The one-v-one defending was good, forcing her outside. Individuals did really well in order to balance that.”
“We also had support, where it wasn't just a case of one player once we got into the box or stayed in line. We were able to send a second player, and it was the teamwork that helped get the job done.”
On the overall club’s defensive performance:
“The first half, as Paige [Nielsen] said, our box defending was good. They had a lot of possession and were able to put service into the box, for the most part, we dealt with that service. We got ourselves reorganized and we were able to win the ball.”
“The second half turned into our traditional moments for us. We won the ball and were able to connect. That's key for us, in terms of keeping the ball in that next space.”