Syracuse ACC Championship Press Conference
Women’s ACC Lacrosse Tournament
4/26/2015
Syracuse Head Coach Gary Gait
Opening Statement:
“That was an exciting game and just a great tournament. This was a great opportunity to play some teams that we’ve seen already, and all three of them had taken it to us in the regular season. All throughout the year I have said that we can beat anybody and we can lose to anybody, and this week was our week and we beat them all. To me it is unbelievable that this team can step up and beat the number four, the number three, and the number two teams in the country all in four days. It took character, heart, effort and believing that they could get it done. We’ve been through a lot this year, and we’ve had some tough games, but we stick together and just keep believing that we can do it. After a couple sudden victory overtime games and a win against duke and here we are. All great teams, the best teams in the country here in the ACC and it was a pleasure to be a part of it.”
“We’ve had 10 one goal games. I give this team a lot of credit, we weren’t making the plays during the regular season, a lot of times we had opportunities and it didn't happen. But we just continued to battle and work on things and try to improve. I think that has helped us in building some confidence, and they believe that they are going to win every game now, and that helps you in these tight games when you’ve been there so many times and you believe that you can get it done.”
Kelsey Richardson:
“I have all the faith in the world in our defense. We got together and just talked about it, and our thing is instant positive reaction. Our defense played great all game and I just told them to focus on that and I think that they really stepped up at the end of the game and we came up with a big stop. Obviously in overtime they played great as well.”
“Obviously it gives us an advantage that we have played them once before, I kind of know where they are looking to shoot. But I just focus on mentally preparing myself for these games and I think that it definitely helped that our team played such good team defense and put me in a position to make saves.”
Kayla Treanor:
On defensive pressure:
“I think that we can use that to our advantage, and it is a team sport so that really just put me in a position to help my teammates and create good opportunities to help our offense.”
On the winning goal:
“Well Kailah Kempney got us the ball so obviously that was huge. We knew we needed to score so we just created space for me and I was able to get a good shot off. I think that Courtney (Waite) is a great defender and North Carolina is a great team with a great overall defense, and she played well all day just like she has all season.”
Mallory Vehar:
“I think we just started to talk a little bit more. We play really strong team defense and I think we’re just starting to click. I think Kelsey has been stepping up and playing amazing, but our thing is all team defense and working together and we are just starting to gel.”
On his team’s depth:
“It is nice to see everyone stepping up. Our second lien midfielders came through today. It was incredible to have six middies that went out and was effective against a top team in the country. I am so proud of them all being patient and now stepping up in the end of the season.”
On the defense's mindset during the game:
“We stayed patient and stuck to our game plan. Lacrosse is a game of runs, and we got on one and played smart. We focused on winning the next draw, the next possession, and the next goal. Those are the things that we didn’t get done in the beginning of the year. Today we made the plays we needed in order to win.”
