NCAA Men's Lacrosse First Round Quotes (SU vs. Dartmouth)
Dartmouth Head Coach Rick Sowell
"This was a fun game. What a nice experience for my team. It caps a great year for us. For our kids to come up and play in the Dome is different. You can go to Princeton, you can go to Virginia and they all have somewhat similar facilities ? turf, nice stands. But here is a lot different. We knew that was going to be a factor. If you look at the stats for the fourth quarter and the amount of energy we used in the first three quarters, by the fourth quarter we were running on empty. The humidity in here is something we're not used to. Unfortunately, the game was probably 4:22 too long. I'm awfully proud of my team. I just can't wait until February 1st when Ivy League schools can start official practice."
Sowell on the crowd's effect on his team:
"It 's well documented that when you come to the Dome, you can't hear. You just trust that you've coached well. We tried to talk throughout the week about managing the game, not necessarily needing to hear our voices to know what we're trying to do. It was a players' game. The last four minutes were tough. You could see it slipping away. They made the plays down the stretch. Syracuse won the game, we certainly didn't give it to them."
Sowell on the future of his team:
"The seniors, my first recruiting class, we're going to miss them big time, more than I even realize at this point. They are the first group of guys that took a chance on me. We went through some growing pains, some frustrating times. For a team that is trying to get there, you need to catch a break. I think we finally caught that break last Saturday, but we earned that break. When you look at the future and who is coming back, we think we have it going in the right direction. The pressure is on for next year because we won't sneak up on people."
Dartmouth goaltender Andrew Goldstein
On the final four minutes of the game:
"It was difficult toward the end to just keep everything up. The crowd was obviously getting them fired up. It just seemed like they kept coming back toward us and it was really difficult to clear the ball. I was personally running out of energy. We've played hard until the end all year. We weren't going to give in. We were just trying to stick with what got us there. We couldn't come up with it at the end. They played hard and so did we so there's nothing to be ashamed of."
Goldstein on his goal:
"I made the save and I was running toward the corner of the midfield. Our breaking defenseman, I didn't think I could get the ball to him, so I started running. The waters cleared and it was clear to the net. That guy is a leftie goalie so I knew where to shoot on him because he plays exactly like me. The goal didn't really mean any more to me than a successful clear because that's all we want to do when we get the ball after a save. I've never scored in field lacrosse before."
Dartmouth's Scott Roslynn
On his feelings after Dartmouth took a one-goal lead at the 4:22 mark:
"Syracuse is a team that likes to go on runs. They hadn't had a run the entire game. We felt we had to keep playing solid defense and keep scoring and keep chipping away. We knew it was going to be a battle. We were happy to get out, but there was a lot of lacrosse left to play."
Dartmouth's Ryan Danehy
On how such a young team was able to remain poised playing at Syracuse:
"The senior leadership makes it a lot easier for us to come in and try our best. We've been faced with big games like this before with Princeton and all of the other Ivy League teams. Coming here, of course, the crowd and just playing Syracuse is a big thing, the seniors and the captains bring it down to a different level. It's easy to play and easy to focus."
Syracuse Head Coach John Desko:
"I'd like to congratulate (Darmouth) Coach Sowell and his team, the Big Green. I can see why they were 11-2 on the year. They certainly deserved to be here. They showed Syracuse why. They are a very good team, a well-coached team. They had a good game plan. The goaltender (Andrew Goldstein) was outstanding as he has been all year. He made some big saves."
Desko on the flurry of goals at the end of the game:
"We had a few set plays that we had put in there for the playoffs. Dartmouth plays such nice team defense. We just basically got them to Mike Powell's side and we were able to find the open man. It worked earlier in the game for us so we went back to it. We were prepared for them to stop us. We had a couple of set plays lined up. It was important for us to get the shots from where they came from against their left-handed goaltender."
Desko on how hard the players had to play:
"The players are all in pretty good condition. We've played a tremendous schedule this year against seven of the other playoff teams in a lot of very close games. The guys have had to play, run for 60 minutes so I think the preparation games we've played help us this time of the year. The guys have worked hard. Going back to the week before UMass, we really got re-focused. We came up short in an overtime game. It was a little warmer than we expected today. We're not used to that in the North, especially in the Carrier Dome. I think both teams felt that today. It was nice to have the extra juice in the fourth quarter."
SU's Sean Lindsay
On goal that gave SU a 13-11 lead:
"On that particular goal, it was a big groundball (by Jarett Park). He picked up the ball and I started to head toward the cage. He either got checked out or he just flipped it right to me. No one was in front of me. I was a little hesitant to shoot because of the time and we had the lead. But my instincts took over. I'm glad it went in because Coach Desko probably would have been in my ear."
SU's Michael Powell
On how physically draining the game was:
"I'm still not breathing right. Like Coach said, it was really hot in there due to graduation and the body heat before us. In warm-ups I was talking to a lot of the guys and we were saying that we were sweating bullets out there. It was an up-and-down game and I enjoy that until the last two or three minutes. You really have to go within yourself to find a way to win the ballgame and we did that today."
Powell on playing Princeton next week:
"We know that Princeton is a quality opponent. We enjoy playing them because, if we beat them, we know we're a better team and going into the final four, that's a pretty big win to have. We know what we have to do. We're rivals. We play them every year, twice usually."
SU's Solomon Bliss
On SU' effort against Dartmouth:
"I think it was the same kind of situation we've been put in all year. It was especially hard today with the humidity. But in the playoffs, that kind of stuff doesn't matter to you. If you don't do what you have to do, you're going home. At the end of the game both offensively and defensively, we did a good job of outhustling them a little bit and being able to be a couple of steps ahead of them."
Bliss on Dartmouth goalkeeper Andrew Goldstein's goal:
"The coaches told us about it all week. We watched game film and it seems like as soon as the ball is shot, he's already thinking about which route he's taking up the field. Credit him because he's a great athlete. We have to do a better job of getting off of our guys defensively and shutting down the fastbreak."
Bliss on the crowd support:
"After we scored and they started cheering, I just felt like standing on the "S" and waving my arms. It's just an amazing feeling having that many people rooting for you and behind you. The biggest crowds we've ever seen have been at the final four. That kind of feeling gives me some insight as to how it would be to have 50,000 for football and basketball games. It gets loud on the field. It is a motivational thing for me."
SU's Jay Pfeifer
On Dartmouth goalkeeper Andrew Goldstein's goal:
"I've never seen a goalie score before, and I always wanted to be the one to do it. He was coming closer and closer and I thought he might shoot the ball. He just kind of threw it at me and I didn't even move. Congratulations to him."
