Nov. 24, 2000
Jerry Smith
On the team's chances
"I wouldn't say we were confident we could get the final goal, but we felt there was a good chance to get the goal. You only have look at the scoreboard, we played pretty well. We got off a lot of shots. We knew we'd get more shots, but I think our best chances to score were at the first part of the game.
"I have to give our players a lot of credit. They've worked hard, they battled. 'Never Say Die' is what Danielle Slaton was saying throughout the game, never give up... and the kids didn't. Notre Dame took advantage of their opportunity in overtime and won the game. They played us very well today.
"I don't think our players were doubting. It's been a very tough year for us this year. We've had to overcome a lot of adversity. We have been able to put a real string of nice games together. I think we were very confident. We felt like we were the better team out there today. Tomorrow or yesterday might have been different. But today we felt like we were the better team. But it's not about shots. It's about goals and winning, and finding a way to do it. And we didn't do it this year and we didn't do it last year. There's something Notre Dame is doing that is really shutting us down... or, maybe it's the luck of the Irish, I don't know. But we have to give them credit because they're a very good team and we wish them all the best in the final four next weekend."
On Notre Dame Goalkeeper Elizabeth Wagner
"She made a lot of key saves today. She flipped a couple of them over the bar, and poked a few around the post. You have to give credit where credit's due. Notre Dame is a very good team, but I'm very proud of my team. I don't think anybody doubted that we'd have chances to score, but just a matter of 'could we get one by their goalkeeper.'"
About heading into overtime
"We knew we could do it. In overtime it's about who's going to catch a break and take advantage of it. And Notre Dame did that. They caught the first break and created a great goal. You have to give them credit for that."
On this match vs. a 6-1 loss at Notre Dame Sept. 8 "We had two very good teams going at it. We knew we had this kind of performance in us when we were out here earlier in the year. We were missing quite a few players: Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Anna Kraus. We're just glad we got another shot so we could prove that score earlier in the year wasn't quite so accurate. Win or lose the game today, we show we're a very good team.
"This is the first time in five years we're not going to the final four, and we're disappointed in that. We knew we had a tough hall with road games, but I'm very proud of our group."
On Anna Kraus' goal with 2:48 left in regulation
"That was an unbelievable goal. It was her first goal all year. She just puts it in with the game on the line there. Unbelievable."
Anna Kraus on her goal
"I just looked down. And then I looked up and it was in the goal. I was just concentrating. I felt I hit it right."
Danielle Slaton on the team's thoughts going into overtime
"We've been pretty successful in overtimes this past year. We went into overtime four other times, and this was unfortunately the first time we have lost. We had a lot of confidence coming off the BYU game knowing we've been successful in overtimes and once we got that equalizer to tie the game today. At the same time, we knew we had to do the work and unfortunately the opportunities we got didn't play out for us."