.png)
Gary Gait Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Gary Gait
Syracuse vs. Boston University
NCAA Tournament First Round
May 10, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening statement:
“I thought that all our hard work and preparation came together. Our team stepped up, led by our seniors. Playing their last game in the Dome, I thought they did a good job leading and demonstrating what this team is all about and taking the game to the next level. We controlled the game and played the way we wanted to play the game. We were able to keep that control the entire game. I’m happy with the win and ready to move on.”
On Katie Rowan’s performance:
“She’s opportunistic. She had great game sense. That’s what makes her what she is - her ability to dodge hard to the goal. She also has the ability to pull out and find the open player while she’s dodging. That’s the key to her success. She’s not just a goal scorer, she’s not just a feeder, but she’s a great combination of both. When she has confidence, she steps up and controls the game. It’s just a matter of setting her up and making sure she’s in the right position to be successful. That’s what I try to do from the beginning on the offensive end. Once she’s at the top of her game, she can carry the rest of the team.”
On Katie not being one of the five Tewaarton Trophy finalists:
“I was a little surprised, but that happens. They go by how you do. She had a good mix of points. She didn’t have the points she had last year, but it was a different schedule and different season. They looked at that and apparently felt she didn’t play as well as last year. It happens. I told her to go out and prove it on the field that she deserves it. I think her performance today shows she’s a Tewaarton-type candidate player.”
On Katie’s ability to move the ball:
“She dodges knowing the double is going to come, and when it does she moves the ball. That’s what makes her a great player, her ability to do that.”
On goalie Liz Hogan’s performance:
“She’s a young goalie. It wasn’t her best performance. I have to give the other team credit. The shots they had were right on top of her. They were tough shots. I certainly wouldn’t want to be one-on-one and have to make those stops. Some days you make a couple of those. It wasn’t her luckiest day by any means, but she did a number of other good things. She controlled our clear and that’s one of the reasons we were successful today. We were able to control the clear, the game and the pace to do what we wanted to do.”
On any changes made from the game with Boston University earlier this season:
“Right from the beginning we controlled the pace of the game. That was the difference. When we were clearing the ball, we took our time. We had only two turnovers and that was part of our success.”
On whether this was the best game of the year so far:
“I thought that was one of our best games of the year. Certainly at the beginning of the game I challenged them to step up and make it the best game. They did. They responded well. It started with Bridget Looney taking control of the game. We were down by a goal and she stepped up scoring the next couple to get us going. She took it upon herself to fire up the team.”
On Maryland:
“They’re a very good team. They’ve figured out how to win and get the job done. We’ll continue to look at film, evaluate and tweak what we want to do. They’re at home. They’re expecting to come out with a win. We’re going to go down there and hopefully get our “W”.”
On learning from last year’s playoffs:
“It’s playoff time. Just the way we played today was different from our regular season play. I told them if we play well, we can beat anybody. But we have to play well for 60 minutes and we have to execute. Today we did it. We’re going to do it again next Saturday.”
