Postgame Quotes
Friday, April 17, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, N.Y.
Coach John Desko
Opening Statement:
“I was happy with the first half and the effort that we came out with against Albany at both ends of the field. We did a good job on faceoffs once again in the first half. To put up 10 goals in the first half was good for our offense. We executed well and figured out what they were doing defensively. We were patient and took some good shots on their goaltender. Defensively, to walk away with only two goals on the scoreboard was a good feeling. We must have gone in and really relaxed, and thought the game was over at halftime, winning 10-2. Albany didn’t believe that going into halftime, and they came out and gave a great effort, really played hard.
“To be in this building against this team at 10-2, they certainly could’ve folded the tents, but they didn’t. They showed a lot of heart, got a few goals and got some things going, and they fed off of that and really made it a game. In the fourth quarter, we picked it up again and started doing some things offensively that we were doing early on. We started to take the pressure off of our defense. We were able to pick the lead back up and get enough to win the game. I’m sure the fans don’t like it, but I thought the offense did a great job down the stretch of holding the ball against their defense and putting the game out of reach.”
Dan Hardy, Sr., Midfield
On the relative ease of the first half compared with the rest of the game:
“We just settled up in the third quarter and didn’t really work as hard as we should have. We relaxed a little bit and didn’t run the offensive crisply like we did in the first half. They got some nice breaks and some man-ups, and they were able to move the ball pretty well in the third quarter. We just couldn’t gain our composure for a little while.”
On whether or not the team panicked during the third quarter Albany comeback:
“We’ve been in those situations many times before. We were up the whole game. We knew that we had the ability to win the game and take over. We just had a little breakdown mentally. It was about us offensively gaining our composure, settling down, moving the ball around and getting people touches. We did that in the fourth quarter and it really showed.”
On Albany’s offensive strategy:
“Coach [Desko] had been telling us all week that they really thrive in unsettled situations. They were trying to get us uncomfortable, get some turnovers, and get the ball moving up the field to their attack which is one of the best in the country. They were hoping to get that type of situation, and it worked for them in the third quarter.”
