QUOTES
BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood
On her overall thoughts on the game
“What an amazing game. To have North Carolina here playing on South field is quite an honor. The start of the game wasn't quite what we anticipated. I don't think we all saw that coming. At halftime, we just talked about getting one more goal. Just really proud of the way that these girls played, especially in the second half. There were so many great plays and so many great players. We are honored to represent BYU as part of the final four in the College Cup.”
On the come-from-behind win
“I think it's just a testament to our girls will and the belief in themselves and then their teammates to overcome adversity, to believe and to just keep pushing and give it everything they have. We said at halftime, ‘We don’t have anything to lose. Let's just put it all out together. We’ve played so well all season. We deserve to score at least one or two goals, so let’s just get out there and get it done.’ And they did.”
On matching physicality of UNC in second half
“We told the girls that we need to get close-in to the ball and really fight and be a little tougher. When you give up a goal in the first minute, it takes you back for a little bit, and it took us a few minutes. After the third goal, we did settle down, and our subs came off the bench, as they have all season, and really helped us gain a little momentum. It allowed some of our other starters to get a breather before halftime. Every game on South Field, we come out the beginning of halftime going towards that West goal with all the momentum. We told them to ‘give it everything you’ve got, and go out there and put it all out there,’ and they did that. They started with momentum right from the beginning. I think we all knew the first goal was coming, and then the second. We've been on the backside of being up 3-0, and sometimes you get a little casual. We’ve had that happen to us before and we talked about that at halftime about needing to go out there and get after it. They did that for sure.”
On Coach Anson and UNC
“Anson has set the standard for all of us coaches, before I even started coaching. He’s set the standard for all of the players and all of the programs through all of division one women's soccer. So if he probably hasn’t seen something like that (the comeback win), then I don't know that anything ever like that has happened before. We congratulate them on a great season.”
BYU senior midfielder Olivia Katoa
On scoring game-winning goal
“I got the ball at the top, and I had to take a deep breath. I’m honestly so proud of every single person. This team has so much grit and never gives up. That is something we’ve proved to ourselves this year. We’ve come back from being down in the past, and it was no different today. We believed in each other. We believed in what we know we can do, and I’m so proud of every single girl. It takes all 32 girls on our team to get something like that done tonight.”
On winning the game in regulation
“I knew everybody had no doubt that we were finishing that in regular time. We knew we were on them. The momentum shift was huge, and we could feel that, so there was no doubt in my mind that we weren’t walking away from regular time with a win. I know everyone felt the same way.”
BYU senior defender Laveni Vaka
On coming back after being down 3-0
“I don’t think we ever got to a point where we were like 'We’re not coming back from this.' The first half was okay, but we still had momentum. Second half it was like, ‘We can still score four goals.' This team has so much grit and so much passion.”
BYU senior midfielder Jamie Shepherd
On playing at South Field
“We’ve been talking all week that this is our last game out on South Field, especially for us seniors. We wanted to leave it all out there, and I think that’s exactly what we did. It’s a good way to walk out of South Field.”
On leadership keeping team focused
“I think it was a collective effort. A few of us stayed up in the team room after our halftime talk and regrouped and said, ‘We got this.' You could feel that when we came out for the second half. We were confident and more physical. We came out and played our game. When we’re playing our game, we score goals, and we scored four amazing, beautiful goals.”
BYU senior forward Bella Folino
On scoring the equalizer
“If I remember correctly, I dribbled as fast as I could and played it to Ellie Walbruch. I came back and played it off the volley. I was so excited. Since the first goal, we kept saying, ‘One more goal.’ We never gave up. This team has so much grit.”
UNC head coach Anson Dorrance
Overall thoughts on the game
“Obviously if you are neutral or a BYU fan, that was an incredible game to watch. That second half, BYU took over. It wasn’t like it was a fluke. They were down our throats, and I thought they came up with a fantastic victory. All credit to BYU, their staff and their players. Also credit to their fans. What an incredible atmosphere to play in. We tip our hats to an excellent BYU team that’s moving on.”
On the come-from-behind win
“I've never seen that in my life. That was just an extraordinary comeback for a great team. They came after us. I have huge respect for them. They’re great in the individual duel. They’re great at running at people one v. one. Their finishing capability is also extraordinary. I give them nothing but full credit. The way they attack is the way our team at their best attacks. We also try to build our game on the one v. one artist, and you could see BYU had those artists all over the field. They scored some magnificent goals. They were just relentless defensively, so it wasn't like they just played on one side of the ball. They were also excellent as soon as we won the possession. I give them nothing but full credit.”
