Following the Chicago Red Stars’ match against the North Carolina Courage, Coach Petrucelli, Emily Boyd and Amanda Kowalski took questions from media members. The Red Stars came back to tie the match 2-2 against Carolina thanks to goals from Sarah Griffith and Amanda Kowalski.
On the last 5 minutes of the match (from Claire Watkins)
Amanda Kowalski: I don’t think we can. I think it was a lot of momentum coming our way, just the entire half we were on top of them and we got sick of missing our chances and finally put them away.
Chris Petrucelli: I thought we struggled until we went down two goals. We didn’t play well, honestly. We were sloppy in possession, passing wasn’t good and our intensity to regain the ball wasn’t like it usually is. We made some changes in the second half. Any time you’re down two goals the other team is going to sit back a little bit and you’re going to push forward. That’s pretty typical, and I think we pushed forward and once we got one, you know, that was a great goal from Amanada at the end and a really great goal from Sarah. Two rookies, fantastic. Our overall quality of play was not up to our standard, I don’t think it was as good as it’s been throughout the year.
On walking away with a point despite the team not being at its best (from Dan Gaichas)
Petrucelli: I think certainly it speaks volumes to the desire that’s there and what these guys want to accomplish and who they are a little bit. It would have been easy to quit down 2-0 and again playing poorly at that point.
On dealing with North Carolina’s intensity and adjusting through the game (from Claire Watkins)
Boyd: I think it was much different from last week, but I think we knew they were going to press because it was successful against Gotham for us when they sat in. I think we were expecting it but it took a few minutes and a few passes from us to get it under control and I think the second half for us was a lot better.
On adjusting for the second half of the season (from Sandra Herrera)
Petrucelli: I hope not. I think the best thing for us is to recap this game, go through the same process we do every other game, work forward to playing Houston and not worry about the table and the numbers. Just focus on playing the next game and continuing to do that and I hope we can continue to do that.
On the experience of facing the level of intensity and physicality from North Carolina (from Claire Watkins)
Kowalski: I think, especially from a back line perspective coming off of Gotham where they kind of sat off and didn’t press as hard, it was kind of a shock going into the game. We knew they were going to press but I didn’t personally think they would come at us that hard for that long. I think preparing mentally every single time going into a game like that and just expecting that every time, I think that’s important.
On whether Coach Petrucelli is happy from what he’s seen so far this season (from Jeff Vorva)
Petrucelli: I am. Again, not as happy today as I was going into today, but if you look at it, big picture and as a whole, I think we’ve been good. We’re starting to get the concepts of getting the ball, keeping the ball and passing the ball. Sort of a total change of style and change of system, I think we’re starting to understand those things. No one in the league is going undefeated. People are going to tie and going to lose and the games are close every week. To be sitting where we are right now we can feel pretty good about it.
On what Kowalski saw in the last corner kick (from Rusty Silber)
Kowalski: I didn’t. I kind of closed my eyes and prayed to the man upstairs. I kind of noticed that I was heavily marked in the entire game and it almost felt like in that last corner they were just pushing everyone in and weren’t worried about man marking. So, I think I felt more confident running into the box and seeing the flight of the ball and once it go into my eyesight, I prayed that it would go in.
On how Sarah Griffith’s acclimated to the league and how Vanessa DiBernardo has facilitated that transition (from Matt le Cren)
Petrucelli: I didn’t realize they went to the same high school. That’s pretty cool. First of all, Vanessa is such a talented player. We’ve pushed her forward a bit here recently and you can see how good she is, she whacked one off the post today. She had to of run 14 miles today. She's a great role model for younger players. And certainly Sarah, she’s had a very good season so far. She had a rough game last week and the response this week was fantastic. She was great in training, put her head down and went to work, trusted in her talent and you saw the result today. I think she was very good. The two of them together certainly can cause problems because they’re both tricky, they both can finish, they both have a way to get by people and those sort things. So I think ti’s nice having the two of them together.
On the impact of all the rookies over all (from Gianna Belcastro)
Petrucelli: it’s amazing. The success that they’ve had, I think all of them have been really really good. They’re contributing everygame. They come out they and do their job, they work. We have to kick them off the field because they always want to train extra. They’re loving it. They’re loving being in the environment. You can see that they’re enjoying themselves and again, I think all of them have been really good. I don’t know of another team, in any league, that has had the kind of contributions from first year players that we’ve had.
On the Soldier Field Match (from Danny Ramirez)
Petrucelli: We’re certainly looking forward to playing their but we have one more before that that we’re going to get focused on and we’re going to go to Houston and we’re going to battle the Dash and then everyone is going to get a break and we’ll come back and prepare for Soldier Field, which will be a fantastic atmosphere and I'm sure the players are excited to play there.
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