Portland Soccer Postgame Quotes

Portland vs. Nebraska Postgame Quotes

Portland Head Coach Garrett Smith
On the intensity of the game
"That frantic pace is sometimes tough to play, but the maturity and composure of our team was phenomenal today.  The final statistics show the true quality of our play.  So I think it was a great performance by the Pilots, but I also give Nebraska a lot of credit for making it very difficult on us."

On playing in Nebraska
"Nebraska was a great venue.  Obviously we would have preferred to play at home, but there were a lot of quality teams here and we’re happy to walk away with two wins."

On playing a close game with the Huskers
"Now we know that we can play with teams who play with such a sense of urgency.  Especially after they got their second goal, they had a ton of passion and urgency to get back and we were still able to hold them."

Forward Megan Rapinoe
On playing Nebraska-style soccer
"We still tried to play our game as much as possible.  But it was really just a battle."

Forward Christine Sinclair
On blocking Nebraska goalkeeper Jamie Klages’ punt
"We watched her play on Friday and noticed that when given space she would roll the ball out.  So when she got it I made it look like I was going to drop back.  She rolled the ball out, maybe a little too far, and I came at her.  I don’t think she even looked up because she kicked it right at me."

On Portland’s play
"We really picked things up late in the first half and controlled most of the game on Nebraska’s side of the field.  I think that late goal at the end of the first half really deflated them and gave us an edge."

 Nebraska Head Coach John Walker
On the game
"We competed well, but none of the goals that we gave up were quality goals. They were caused by errors on our part. While it’s disappointing, we know that we gave them problems in the first half. We came out and gave it a go. Our effort level was high, but we just made some big mistakes."

On Portland
"I think that Portland is excellent. They’re the best team we've played this season and the best college team I have seen for several years. The other teams that played them stayed back and defended. We were aggressive and played three up and four up, and that gave them problems."

On NU goalkeeper Jamie Klages
"She played an unbelievable second half and showed great resiliency after making a couple of early mistakes. A lot of freshmen will mistakes early like that and fold, but Jamie didn’t."

On Nebraska’s performance
"I thought that our play in the first 20 minutes of the game was great. We wanted to make things difficult for them, and I couldn’t have asked for more. In the second half, we played well in spurts, but didn’t finish."

On Nebraska’s defensive scheme against Christine Sinclair
"We did a good job with her. She didn’t have to do a lot for her two goals because they were caused more by our mistakes. A lot of teams try to mark her, but when you do that, she generally scores two goals and you’re a man down somewhere else. We just said that we’d know where she is and be aware of her and we did a good job of defending her."

On moving Nikki Baker to the front late in the game
"We needed a goal at the time and she’s a good offensive player. We wanted to attack as much as we could at that time."

On the departing seniors
"They’ve all had quality careers. The experience in the back is the major thing that we’ll have to replace. We return most of our attackers. We return the Big 12 player of the year (forward Brittany Timko) and a good goalie. We have holes in the back that we’ll have to try to fill."

NU Forward Brittany Timko
On the game
"I’m proud of our team because we never gave up. We always felt like we were in the game."

NU Goalkeeper Jamie Klages
On the game
"They’re (Portland) the best team we’ve played all year. We gave up goals early. The team played hard, and I’m proud of that."

On Portland forward Christine Sinclair’s second goal
"It was a pass back that I should have cleared and didn’t."