Seattle Reign FC Press Conference: 8/25: Head Coach Laura Harvey

um before I ask you for just your overall thoughts in the game uh normally when we ask you like how many steps did you get get in but I guess given the circumstances of tonight's dramatic when did your Smartwatch give off any elevated heart rate warnings yeah probably I was pretty low today pretty low only 8,000 pretty chill for me yeah U just overall thoughts on the team's performance and route to the Milestone of 100 uh victories for you congratulations thank you um I thought what did I think I thought the first 20 minutes we had to sort of get our footing in the game um and then once we did I thought the second half of the first half we were very good um caused them some problems and and you know we were like working at our defensive structure a little bit um because they're a good team they move the ball really well um they play and and play and play so we knew that and then I thought in the second half from maybe minute five of the second half I just thought we dominated and if we if we weren't going to win the game it was going to be because we didn't take our chances and if we lost the game it was going to because we made a mistake and thankfully neither of those things happened so uh yeah my overall thoughts were that I thought we had some very good individual performances but which I'll talk about well but I think just as a collective group we knew what tonight meant in not nothing to do with me and and my wins but just what it meant getting three points setting the tone for the second half of the Season giving ourselves a chance to climb where we want to go we knew we had to win tonight really um just to give ourselves a platform um and we did that so I'm uh really proud of the group I thought there was a lot of really good individual performances I thought Jordan BG was very very good um thought the substitutes were great all came on and impacted the game um and you know kids can play uh looking at the the depth of your defense over the season it seemed like they were really trying to throw a lot down one flank at Shay yeah they they they really picked on her early and she seemed to be just shutting up down shutting it down shutting it down and Phoebe was there with cover can you talk about how your defensive floor played tonight yeah we had a very clear strategy of what we wanted to try and do and I think for Shay she's very good at front foot defending and we knew they were going to try and get behind us so um I think she probably made one mistake in that and that's when they got in behind us in the first half but I thought in the second half she was excellent um and sheay is very hard on herself extremely actually um so I'm really really proud of her because I think she gives us a lot going forward I think defensively she's fast she's athletic she can Sol spaces she just needs to work out what the people are you know what the opponent's trying to do against her when she works that out she does a good job and she got caught once and that was it so yeah I did think that they tried to Target her and fair play to it she stood up to it coach when uh moner and how came on it felt like you guys ratcheted up the pressure right there in the 75th what was happening there yeah we'd actually we thought G was going to have to come off and in the end she did cuz she cramped and justess like signaled that um a cough was getting tight so um yeah you know Jaylen has not had many sessions with us you know um so and it's hard we we're very tactical you know we're a very Tactical Team so we threw in there and said you go in there and sit with Quinn and find Opportunities to go forward and I thought she did great um mandir is going to be a really special talent I think um I think that the level of what we're ask we ask of people physically um is is really different to what she's been asked to do before so I think the amount of minutes that we can give her is just going to increase over time um but even in the 20 minutes she was on today you saw what her special talent is the just the reality of this league because you've got to be good at all of it you know um and and Anna's played in the league knows what it's about um defensively you know is is really effective you know we know that that's Veronica's game too so I think we have to sort of buy our time with she likes to be called Coco um B our time with Coco um on how much we can keep throwing her in there knowing that we have to get some defensive side of it too um but I you know she's a threat for sure um I'm really excited for her so night congratulations thanks brother how does it feel to uh finally get win 100 thank God Lally waiting since May God sake no it's great I'm really happy um but also on a night honoring a player that was on the field for you for so many of those wins yeah I've had um an interesting week really um I am very as you guys I've told you this before I'm very superstitious and um I got pulled out of all of my routines this week because I had to go and do so much stuff for Pino um and it was really great you know we did a fan event on Friday um and you know we get I speak to her and I get to see her a little bit outside of of work now you know we can have a a bit more of a friendship um even though we're probably I don't know four years difference in age um and and then we had a dinner last night and it's just been really special because she she could have walked away from this club the moment she walked through the door we were we hadn't won a game um from the outside looking in we didn't look great and she sort of said it over the last couple of days like the moment she got here it just f and you know the amount of dedication she's put to this club outside of everything else that she's done that's changed the sport globally what she's done for this club herself Lou Jess and the foundations that they've built are so special that you know even with the new ownership group coming in new staff coming in new leadership coming in that that is what makes this club special and and she just reminds everybody about that so um you know it's been a tough couple of weeks honestly for me personally and she just reminds me why I love this club so much and then you mentioned it Jordan was absolutely fantastic um can you just talk a bit more about her performance and also trusting her to start a regular season game at 18 at the center of defense against a very good team yeah um the head coach of the u20s is my best friend good job because as I said to her about a week ago good job you're my best friend cuz letting Jordan B go right now is tough um and emry is tough um I think Jordan's got such a high ceiling um I see traits in her that I saw in some of the players that I've worked with who have gone on to be world class I'm I don't think world Jordan's world class yet but I think she has all the attributes to get there um and the only way she's going to get there is if she plays um and she might not play all the time you know I think we we're not going to have her now for however many games but to let her experience tonight she'll she'll never forget that um if for all the right reasons the decision she makes on the ball the decision she makes off the ball just her like instinct to defend I think is is is where her specialty is and then all my my job is is just to cultivate that and give her the opportunity to play which you know tonight she took that I thought Phoebe was great too next where you know I think Center back Partnerships are you know it's been hard for us this year really really hard um and uh you know to come in they've never really played together properly in a regular season game um I thought they were great I thought they were a great partnership so yeah I think Jordan has a I think all the kids do Jordan has a h anley the Canan has a crazy high ceiling and emry you know uh peno's already text me saying she wants her number I believe she did the celebration is that right I didn't see I blacked out um but yeah I think that all three of them were really special to just completely piggy back off that last part there would Emory be the one to make that inor at the end she posted a photo this morning of very young Emory witho just of how in the preseason you came up to JZ and you said you need to pay attention to Emory just how special is that obviously we've talked out throughout the season about Emory and what she can be just for it to happen like it did tonight can you speak to that a little bit yeah I was I I was very conscious when we signed emry that that people didn't think she was the new Pino I was it's not a burden she needs and she's not the same they're different in how they play and but emry is special in our own little right and the thing that makes Pino so great is she carved her own path and emry needs to do the same thing so I think that does does she feel I'm sure um you know grateful and I'm sure over the moon that she was able to score tonight when when it was Pino's game but um I want her to be able to carve her own path the way that um Pino was able to carve her too um but I do think that emry has real special talent if you'd have said to me someone was going to score a header today I would not put emry in my top five but maybe now I don't good for her yeah hey coach congratulations again on the win um it seemed like early in the game um North Carolina gave you guys a tough time um getting out of your own end kind of suffocating any attack um that you all try to get through uh what's tactical changes if any were made in order to you know get past that and get more confidence down the field yeah we we planned defensively that we wanted to be really aggressive and I thought that we were at the start but they they're very good at solving that um and we actually dropped Jess a little bit lower I thought that helped us um and then transition moments I thought we were a little bit more aggressive as the half went on at playing forward you know Jess's chance came from that in the first half and then I thought in the second half we defended well but we controled the game more we were better on the ball we possessed a little bit more which they don't like that you know they like to be able to control that so we made them chase a little bit then we made them come after us um and we were able to get opportunities from that so I do think when you play Carolina I I think you have to stay in the game is the terminology I would use goals change game so as long as you can make sure that you don't concede you give yourself a chance to be able to turn it around and I wish it was earlier in the game but um you know we're all for drama at this club um that we you know then once we got that goal right at the death that uh obviously it was a it was a gamechanging moment thank thanks guys