John Walker Postgame Quotes

NCAA Second Round Postgame Quotes
Boston College 4, Nebraska 1

Nebraska Head Coach John Walker

On challenges brought by Boston College

"They're an excellent team. We knew that going in. I know they had some more losses than other teams, but if you look at their losses - two to North Carolina, one to Florida State, one to Virginia, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Notre Dame -  it's maybe not a realistic record for them. But they were an excellent team. They passed the ball well. They had two strikers that were very dangerous. They were the better team today. There's no excuses. They just executed a little better than us. Once the game opened up in the second half, that's really not the way we wanted the game to go either. Full credit to them."

On momentum in the final third of the game

"I think there was some good defending from them. Their two centerbacks did well. Some of it was just execution. We got the ball into positions where we have been dangerous all season. Like I said, a lot of it is just credit to them for good defending. They did good box defending. I thought they headed the ball well, cleared the ball well. One-against-one defending was quite good. Even though we had momentum, we had some chances, it wasn't sustained. Then I thought they were dangerous on the counter attack like we usually are. So the last part kind of got into a game that we didn't want to play."

On the team's sense of urgency

"We'll look at the competitive stats, stuff like heading and tackles and stuff like that, and we'll probably figure out that we're better than them somewhere. It's never an urgency or effort thing with this group. We played a very good team today and they executed a little better than us. Our girls played fantastically hard like they have all season. The effort was there from the beginning to the end."

On Boston's 30 shots

"Thirty shots is a lot. Throughout the Big Ten, I think that you've seen that we don't mind giving up shots as long as they're from a distance. I think a lot of the games in the Big Ten, the other team had more shot attempts, but we had the more dangerous chances. Today, [Boston College] had the shot attempts and some dangerous chances as well. They're an excellent team. As the game opened up a little bit, that's not the game that we wanted to play. But when it was 2-0, you have to open the game up."

On looking back at the season

"I've talked to them already and told him that they've had a terrific season in terms of the number of wins, how they've carried themselves, how they've competed, the sportsmanship component, as well, and the clean team, not fouling. They've had a great season. We're in a tough conference ourselves. We're finally someone who was able to win a conference title besides Penn State. They were able to get the program back into the tournament, so it was fantastic. How they carry themselves, it was a great season to work with them."

On controlling the midfield

"It wasn't that much different than a lot of games that we've played. We don't mind sitting in and letting the other teams pass the ball in front of us. We try to counter attack out of that. The difference today was that our counter attacks weren't dangerous enough.  We got the ball into some dangerous positions. In previous games, we've had players that can beat other players one-on-one or by quality crosses or whatever. [Boston College] did a great job of kind of nullifying our counter attacks, so, to me, that was the key thing in the game."

On if weather was a factor

"I don't think so. It's the same for both teams. There's no excuse there at all. I don't think either team would say that."

On the seniors

"They've been terrific. All six of them have all had successful careers. They've all held different roles. But I think the constant thing is that they were all good teammates. Their competitive spirit was very high. They had a real drive. It was an easy team to coach. They kept the group on track. Like I said, we never had to worry about effort-related issues or anything that was unrelated to just tactical stuff and performance. From a coaching stand point, that makes it so much easier when you're able to work with a group like that. They're a real pleasure to coach. They've certainly left their mark on our program."

On freshman forward Jaycie Johnson's two shots

"There were just some good individual performances from [Boston College]. There was no lack of effort from any of our players. You saw Jaycie trying to go one-versus-one, Jordan go one-versus-one, Mayme go one-versus-one trying to get in behind them. Sometimes they were successful, sometimes not. That's the way it goes when you play the quality of teams we've played. We've had games like that in the Big Ten, where one of our dangerous attacking players maybe didn't have a good day, but another couple did. It's rare to have a day where, as a group, we just were not as dangerous as we have been. Full credit to Boston College, for sure."