Nov. 12, 2010

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Following Cal's 2-1 loss to Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Bears' head coach Neil McGuire and sophomore Betsy Hassett chatted with the local media. Duke head coach Robbie Church and various Blue Devil student-athletes were also present for interviews.

California head coach Neil McGuire:

Overall thoughts of the match:
"We knew coming in that this was more than likely going to be a one goal game...two very, very talented teams. All credit goes to Coach Church and his staff for getting his team prepared and we wish them all the best."

On dominating most of the game and losing focus during the one minute stretch that led to two Duke goals:
"We're a fairly young team. We have four or five freshmen who are starting for our team and I think that we got rattled. At this point in the season you can't be that way. You know, we gave up a bad foul to give away the first goal and then from there we just didn't remain composed. I thought we played extremely well and I was very proud of the players."

On what the team can take away from this game for next season:
"Well, I mean this is great experience. When you come out and you can play as well as you did for long periods of time...throughout the season we played extremely well and these are just difficult times but we'll just regroup and go from here."

Midfielder Betsy Hassett

Overall thoughts on the game:
"It was a close game. I thought we dominated most of it but we were just unlucky and lost a little bit of composure at the end and let a couple of goals in."

On losing focus for the two Duke goals:
"I think we just lost concentration for a couple minutes and it cost us the game."

Duke Head Coach Robbie Church

Thoughts on the game:
"Well it was a strange game. I felt we got played off the field in the first half - we were fortunate to be in the game. We were nervous, we were a little scared, we panicked with our passes. It didn't look like us. To concede a goal with eight seconds left (in the opening half) and come back and win the game is unbelievable, it really was. We just showed the character of this team. There was 45 minute left in the game and you've got to play 45 minutes, but I am just very, very happy with this group. I though we possessed the ball in the second half. We played much quicker, we changed our point of attack, we were much more aggressive in our touches, and in our mindset going forward. It's good. It's going to be very tough on Sunday but we will worry about that tomorrow. We're just going to enjoy this tonight."

Freshman Midfielder Kaitlyn Kerr

On how she was able to score:
"We have been working on set plays a lot in practices and I just try to make myself available. They keep on elbowing you during set plays but I just kind of establish my spot and flicked it over."

On what changed from the first half to second half:
"I think we realized after the first half that we didn't play our game and we just tried to settle ourselves down, compose, and play the ball to the feet."

Freshman Forward Laura Weinberg

On getting her goal within a minute of the first goal"
"We just brought the energy. We knew after we were down that we had to tie it up, so everyone was just pumped and had energy to get the second one. We knew we had to get ahead."

On turning the game around in the second half:
"We weren't playing our game. We were not possessing the ball and we were getting pushed around. They are a physical team. We just came out in the second half composed. We knew we had to get one back and we got the equalizer and it all just fell into place."