Nov. 13, 2007
Head Coach Jennifer Averill
On how the early season ACC and Big Ten Challenge originated...
"I believe it was Marcia Pankratz who used to coach at University of Michigan and Karen Shelton at Carolina. It used to be all of us all involved, and the original concept was to help develop field hockey in different pockets of the U.S. We used to typically hit St. Louis a lot, and they had the Anheuser-Busch facility down there so we would play on two field. From that it's just Michigan, Iowa, Wake and Carolina that have followed through with it over the years and then we just rotate opening the season of each institution every year."
On the second half of the season...
"It's pretty remarkable, as Liz (Fries) alluded to we've had some adversity and just throughout the whole season the coaching staff has been extremely adamant about the character of each individual on this team, and it's great to have a strong sense of character when things are going well. I think your true colors come out when you hit difficult times, so for us to have the opportunity to compete in the ACC Championship game was just an unbelievable thrill and honor, and I think most importantly to know that we fought hard against for sure one of the best teams in the country and just fell a little short.
"I think we were a little tired there with good reason. But having said that, going into last weekend and fighting and scraping and doing whatever we needed; physically I think we were fine but mentally I just think we were really tired from the ACC. Our games against Duke, the rivalry that we have and the good camaraderie with Maryland, and the same thing with UNC just took a lot out of us and I know it did the other ACC teams as well, and you can see that. It's an advantage going into the NCAA, and then sometimes it can really hit you hard when you're trying to get jacked up for that next big weekend which the NCAA falls on you know immediately right after. If you look at the depth again that we had in the ACC for this year, I say it every year, it is as equally as difficult of a task to win the ACC Championship if not more than winning the NCAA title, no question."
On the amount of time off between games...
"You have to tell yourself that as a staff and as players, and that's where you hit them hard in the in-between season with different conditioning and different mental challenges because you know that every sport faces this, every team has fought tired, so it becomes a mental battle. The team that can tactically hold it together and be mentally strong and then physically not be banged up is the team that is going to persevere. As a coaching staff, you certainly don't drag your practices out, I know that on campus here I'm notorious for you know, `are the lights still on?' and no, my practices are on a timer and the kids love that. They'll be short and brief this week."
On coaching the mental game...
"That's the best part, I hire my assistants for tactical help and support, but mentally that's the best part of coaching. I think it's a partnership between yourself and your players and neither party can fake it so you see their true colors and if you see the nervousness then you address the nervousness, if you see the anxiety you address the anxiety, you see the frustrations then you address the frustrations, and you see the happiness and jump all over it and you make sure that the bottom line is that they're humble. Every day I told them when we got off the bus on Sunday, enjoy this weekend because it's over on Tuesday, and then we have another task ahead of us with hopefully two very, very strong opponents. All we have right now is Penn State, I would love to just play on Sunday and I don't care who, but right now all we have is Penn State and that's first and foremost in our minds."
On not being the favorite...
"You can play that card however you wish to and having been in both situations I think that mentally, I like our position, this year with this team for sure. It helps them fight a little bit. But the humility side of it, I don't think that's ever been an issue with our staff or with our players but I mean everybody knows who the number one is going into this tournament but I think that if you look at the results over last weekend you can definitely tell that the parity once you get this far in the tournament lends itself across the board and you'll see a lot of teams just fighting to get there on Sunday."
Liz Fries, Junior Center Back
On the past couple weeks...
"It's really been unbelievable; it's really a treat. We have 15 strong, and we're just pushing through."
On being in the Final Four after the season's start...
"I actually definitely believed that we could get here, we just had to persevere through everything that's going on, and I really think we've done a great job just keep kicking it in every practice and playing every game like it's the last game we're going to play."
On the improvements throughout the season...
"I think we have been looking at certain things on and off the field and during the games working on communication, positioning and off the field just working hard at our studies because we're missing so many because of classes."
On the Final Four and UNC...
"I think they're our biggest rival right now, and like you said it's just one game at a time. Penn State is first, so I'm just excited to be there and getting another chance to win a trophy. I have the bronze, and I have the silver, I need the gold one on my shelf."
On the Big Ten style of play...
"Each region kind of does their tactics differently, and one of the most fun things to do in the beginning of the year is we go to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, and I guess just seeing the different cultures, you could say, of field hockey, it's great to see."
