Nov. 16, 2007

Recap |  Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. - Cal head coach Neil McGuire

Opening comments
"I think the girls played exceptionally well, particularly in the second half. Santa Clara is a very good side and are well coached by Jerry Smith. We feel very fortunate to be moving forward. This was a very difficult match-up for us. We knew that Santa Clara would come out the first 20-25 minutes of each half and really have a go at us. We wanted to absorb their pressure and try to counter out of it. As a result, we had some success. We knew the last 10 minutes of each half we were going to have the ball and were going to have to make good use of it. I think the girls did."

On counter attacking today
"When you're playing against a team that's tactically savvy and technical like Santa Clara, you have to be aware that they're going to get numbers forward. When they get numbers forward in their attack, that leaves spaces behind their backline. We did talk about that in the pre-game, and I think the girls did an excellent job executing that in the first and second half to give us chances."

Cal forward Nikki Schrey

On the importance of her goal
"It helped us go in the direction we needed to go in the game. The goal came off great vision from (Katie) Oakes and (Val) Barnes. I tried to focus on exploiting the spaces in the backline when I went in. When Katie and I both went in, we saw it, and it worked."

Cal midfielder Katie Oakes

On the play of the midfield
"I went in late in the first half. I started off a little slow. I knew I needed to bring some energy to the midfield. Our midfield played awesome. Nikki (Schrey) played awesome up top. We started finding our wides and connecting. We started having and fun and was coming more naturally for us."

Cal forward McKenna-Louise McKetty

On her reaction after her goal
"It was really exciting to score the goal. Earlier this week, I was joking around with Nikki (Schrey) that I didn't think I had shot the ball once in a game. I probably have more passes for assists than I have shots on goal. At halftime, I was joking around with a couple of girls that if I ever scored a goal in college, I would sit down. That's what I did. I sat down. On Alex's (Morgan) part, it was a great through ball. On the second day of practice at Cal, we worked on beating the goalkeeper. I waited to see what the girl in goal would do (today) and shot it. I was very relaxed and calm."