April 28, 2006

ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship
Semifinal Round - Friday, April 28, 2006
#1 Duke vs. #4 Maryland

Maryland Head Coach Cindy Timchal
Opening Statement:
Obviously it was very disappointing today for Maryland. It wasn't a good day for us, but really give credit to Duke and how well they demonstrated why they are the No. 1 team in the nation. They only have loss, by one goal, to another ACC team in Virginia. We put ourself in a position to be successful, but sadly we came up short.

On what happened in the second half:
The wheels fell off. We really hung in there to keep it close in the first half and in the second half it seemed like a couple little things didn't go our way. And it was those little things that ended up turning into bigger things which resulted in goals. We had opportunities right away, getting the draws and then immediately turning the ball over. We need to demonstrate that we can take care of the ball in those pressure situations.

On the team's next game and if there is any pressure on the team for the remainder of the season:
Games like this happen. I know that Princeton has had some tough games this year too which were pretty decisive. This game can't define our team. It's one game in our season. The little things we could have done which could have gone either way, we could have been ahead in the first half and that momentum could have carried us into the second half. It just didn't happen that way. We won't forget this loss, but again going into Princeton, its going to be a tough game. We haven't shunned away from tough competition all year. Everyone we have lost to has been ranked ahead of us. And they have been all close except for today's game. We need to refocus and get ready for our next opportunity.

On playing yesterday and if there was any hang over:
We really didn't think of yesterday as being a blowout because of the way we felt when playing them in the regular season. We just felt like we were doing the things we need to do. Sadly, the two teams that played yesterday are not playing in the championship game on Sunday. And that didn't happen last year either. With that I do believe you have the No. 1 team in Duke and No. 3 team in Virginia playing for the ACC Championship. This is the way it should be. I really don't think Thursday's game affected us in any way. Unfortunately, we lacked the belief that we could win, especially in the second half when Duke made their run.

Senior, Midfielder - Delia Cox
On possession and key to gaining draw controls:
It was tough. When you're on the ball, you can't score. When we had the ball we were trying to capitalize, but Duke's a great team. We have to give them credit and know that if they are going to have the ball in their sticks, the chances of them scoring are pretty good. We have to value possession so much and maybe we didn't take it to heart like we should have.

On taking the offensive load herself and any difficulty in setting up the offense:
I don't thing there was any difficulty. We needed to get into a settled offense and move the ball around. We definitely have a tendency to look for that first pass, even if it's not the first pass we want to make. When I see an opportunity, I just try and take it.

On scoring against Duke and if she would like to face them again:
Yes, please!

Junior, Defender - Becky Clipp
On Maryland's play in the second half:
When you play a team like Duke, who's No. 1 in the nation, they are obviously No. 1 in the country for a reason. They are a great team. You have to do all the little things right in order to come out on top. They would capitalize on any ground balls, any opportunity they got. After they got a few goals, they went out on a run and we were back on our heels. Every little thing that we were doing wrong, they were doing right.

Duke Head coach Kerstin Kimel
Opening statement:
To win 19-9, I'm very pleased with that, and I think the girls are, as well. If you looked at what our game plan was going into the game though, there are parts of it we could have executed a lot better. They know I don't mean that in a negative way; our plan was to do some things differently throughout that game and I think that the play of Meg Huether and our ability to control the ball on offense was what really made the difference for us. It really wasn't the things that we set out to do in the game, but again, in the ACC Tournament, to win 19-9, you really can't complain.

On facing Virginia in the championship game on Sunday:
We're excited to play Virginia again. We certainly did not have our best effort when we played them in the regular season. I think they're a great team, I expect a great game on Sunday.

On what Virginia did in the regular season meeting to make it difficult for Duke:
I thought Virginia just played a great game against us. I felt like they took care of the ball, they made some big stops on defense and their goalie had a tremendous game against us. We didn't shoot particularly well at all. We certainly had our opportunities in that game, but it wasn't a great defensive game for us, it wasn't a great shooting day for us, but I don't want to make it seem like we were just so awful because Virginia played really well in that game. I would think they would say that was one of their better games of the year.

On adjustments on the draw:
I think we did a better job on the actual circle with the draw. Laura Anderson came up with a couple of big draws for us, Caroline Cryer came up with some big draws, Leigh Jester ... so I felt like that was a big adjustment for us.

On Maryland perhaps being vulnerable after its big win on Thursday (21-8 over Boston College):
I felt like we kind of got from Maryland what we expected. I think the differential in the score is somewhat surprising, because they played a hard game. They played tough. I was happy that we won the ground balls, but they won the draw, and that's a huge part of everybody's game. I felt like they really were aggressive and made us kind of think about everything that we had to do, and I thought that our girls did a great job of raising their level in the second half and just kind of dealing with that intensity and that pressure and maintaining that composure. And that's the benefit or the byproduct of playing a really tough schedule. We've been in games like this all season. We haven't been, though, in the last two weeks. We've had some easy games where even these girls were out of the game. Katie (Chrest) maybe didn't play as much in the last couple of games, a lot of our starters didn't, so to jump into a game like this, it maybe took a little bit of an adjustment for us.

Duke senior Katie Chrest
On the good start to the second half:
Well, I think that we made really good adjustments at halftime. We knew we weren't playing up to our potential. The game was closer than we thought it should have been in the first half, so taking care of the ball and working hard for good shots and good possessions was definitely something that we were focusing on in the second half.

On adjustments on the draw:
One of the first things Kerstin said to us at halftime was that for every five people of Maryland that was on the ball there was one of us, and that was a big adjustment we had to make. Just staying focused on the ball, not being afraid to get fouled, and sending more people for help. That's pretty much the adjustment we made.

On being on a roll late in the year:
We're nearing the end, but we're not there yet. The beauty of it is that we have a lot to work on and we still have a ton of potential that we haven't reached yet. So we're excited to be playing this well right now and probably even more excited to have things to work on.

Duke senior Megan Huether
On the defense stopping Maryland's offense and in particular, Delia Cox:
I think first of all, they didn't have assisted goals because we were marking their cutters in the middle very well. I think we were very well prepared for that. I think Delia is a great player, and it takes a great defensive effort to stop a player of that caliber. Today we were just a little late on our slides and she took advantage of that.