Cameron Tucker
Q: How have you gotten more in touch and accustomed to your role on this team?
A: It's always fun to score a goal, so it felt really good. Overall this season, we've had our ups and downs for sure. But I think that we're just trying to figure things out, so it's been a little bit frustrating. In every game, we're starting to mesh a little more. Same with people just finding their identity and role on the team. People are starting to figure that out and we have a great group of girls, and we're all trying every game to get better.
Q: The assist on your goal came also from Murph (Vasconcelos). How did that play develop? And is Murph one of the teammates you've been able to gain a little bit of chemistry with on the team?
A: Yeah, for sure. I love Murph. We have gotten to play together a lot, especially in practice. So I just saw her out there and checked underneath her, and it was a great pass, so I'm really grateful for her. And again that pass she gave me was awesome.
Q: The team has been giving up a lot of penalties lately which is something you’re all trying to address. From your perspective, what's contributing to that and what are some things you guys are trying to do to fix it?
A: Obviously we don't want to be giving up any more penalties. It's something that we've been talking about. Having rookies on the field, it's just something that they have to learn and get used to. So, I think the more we talk about it and address that you don't have to leave your feet in those moments and to just play it safe, the less Pk's we will be giving up.
Q: Lastly, you guys have one more on the road before you get to come back home. What are you guys hoping to do in that last road game, and looking forward to coming back to Utah in a couple of weeks.
A: We'd like to win in that last road game. I think that starting off with more momentum and just finishing our chances earlier will help us a lot, especially on the road and at a place like North Carolina, who have a great field and great energy. I think that we're just hoping to start faster, start stronger, and put the first goal away.
Q: Could you walk us through the build up and angle of your goal and how it all played out through your mind?
A: If I'm being honest, it happened so quick. I'm having a hard time even remembering exactly what happened. I remember getting the ball from Murph (Vasconcelos) and taking that touch and looking up and seeing literally no one else. And just seeing that top of the goal, I kind of had the mentality of why not? Why not try? We were already down two to zero, and obviously we wanted to get a goal. So I decided I was just going to hit it, and I did, and it went in. So, it was crazy, but it was fun.
Q: What do you think was kind of repeatable about that scenario to maybe score a few more? You’ve gotten your first goal now, so what's kind of repeatable about it?
A: I just think it’s about getting confidence from that. I think that now every time I’d like to shoot the ball, I’ll have a little bit more confidence and know that I can hit those longer range shots and I don't always have to be in the box, so I think that's very repeatable. Just taking more shots and taking them from all over the field.
Q: Regarding the winless streak that the team is on, how do you guys focus on that and use it as fuel for improvement in terms of trying to take a negative result and turn it into a positive?
A: Yeah, obviously, that's something that we don't want to keep doing. And that's obviously something that we don't want to keep losing. And obviously we want to win. I think that it's a fine balance between focusing too much on the fact that we're losing and focusing on what we can control and what we can do. Because in the end, if we're focusing on what we control, I think that we will be able to win. I think that we give up goals based on what we're doing, even today, the team didn't really have much build out play, it was mainly us passing to the other team and then finishing off that. So, we have control over that. We have control over how we start. We have control over scoring or finishing our first chances. So, obviously, we don't want to keep losing. We talk about it, but I think that's something we focus more on is the things that we can control so that we can in turn win
Q: What's the difference between the environment on the road compared to what you guys have experienced at home with the America First Field crowd? And what the home crowd has brought as far as energy this season compared to what you've seen at the visiting teams that you've been at?
A: We have such great fans, and they bring us such great energy every game. It's so fun playing at home, and so I think that when we're traveling it's hard to get that energy, and we don't see as many fans at other places, so I think that that's a challenge. And so its about just finding that energy within the team and within us.
Amy Rodriguez
Q: Regarding the goal from Cam, it was a pretty remarkable goal, is that something that you've seen from her in training? And what was your reaction to that goal.
A: What a cannon, it came at just a perfect time. I’m super happy and proud of Cam at that moment. You don't see prettier goals than that, and she screamed in the upper corner and put us within reach of a game that felt like it was ours to begin with, and it got us that little bit of lift leading into the final minutes of the second half. I wish she could have done two of them today, but maybe that's asking too much.
Q: You spoke about some of the goals you wanted to achieve going into this road trip and the team scored a goal today after not scoring one earlier in the week. Where are you guys at with those goals as you head into the final game of the road trip later this next week?
A: Part of our goals were obviously result based, and unfortunately, we're walking away from our last 2 games not getting results and not getting points. It's always a sweet feeling to steal points on the road, but we weren't able to do that in these last two games. But some of our goals are not on the scoreboard and not based on the leaderboards. It’s about the process, and it's about our style of play and building who we are as a team and building the foundation of this club. And I still think we're inching towards that. Just hearing the rough stats on tonight, we're a team that's gonna build through the thirds, and dominate possession. We're gonna create goal scoring chances and these are all things that are goals of ours that are products of the hard work that the team is putting in and building the foundation like I mentioned. But again it's the same story. I come into this room so often after games, and I talk about how the last piece is converting the goal, scoring chances and getting the ball in the back of the net, and we're still just not over that hump yet.
Q: Where are you at with the players from overseas?
A: Both players are hopefully arriving in market soon. We are awaiting their arrival. But we're gonna take the time to get them acclimated, get them infiltrated within the group and when the time is appropriate, hopefully, you'll see some action out of them.
Q: What do you do as a coach when the results aren’t going your way?
A: It is really easy to let the frustration of results and score boards get to the team and the staff. It is hard to walk away from matches when we felt like we were the better team, we felt like we were knocking on the door. But somehow, we let the game slip away, and it's a very conscious effort by the staff, by all the players that even if we lose on the scoreboard, we don't lose in the locker room. We stay together, we stay, we stay tight, we keep our circle tight, and there's no finger pointing. We have to have players buy in tp that. This is a process. We have short term goals, which are results, but we have long term goals. The bigger picture for me is working on the style of play, and like I mentioned before, building that foundation of the team. That's what's most important for me. And that starts with keeping the locker room tight and making sure we're not losing the locker room.
Q: What is it like planning for a team that you’ve faced before?
A: I'm really grateful that we're able to see an opponent that we've seen before. And with these short turnarounds between games, it is a benefit to have already seen this team once before, although I think the teams have changed. Our group has improved . We've changed over the last several games. But so had Chicago, and so will North Carolina. I mean for me when we lost points against Chicago early on this season, I told the group that this was a redemption game. This is a game to prove that we can steal the points back. On the flip side, we're going into Carolina, which was a game we actually won this season and it'll be a great rematch again. We've got a couple of players who formerly played for the Courage. I know they'll have a chip on their shoulder. They want to get that win and I also think the taste in our mouth after the last time we played North Carolina wasn't very great, because we know it wasn't our best game or best performance, even though we walked away with the points. I'm excited for the revenge match against them where we can prove that we are a better team than we once were.
