Nov. 14, 2004
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Santa Clara
Head Coach Jerry Smith
"Obviously it was a great soccer game today and I'm very proud of our team. Stanford and Santa Clara have had a lot of great games in my 18 years and today ranked right up there. Two very good teams. Nice, composed soccer I thought for most of the game by one or both teams. You know, it's a battle. They have one of the best defensive teams in the country and, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper in the country and between those two things they were a very tough team to break down."
"I thought it was a game we deserved to win today. I thought we were just a little bit better than a very well-coached Stanford team."
(on North Carolina) "Clearly the best team in the country, clearly the best program in the country and it will take a near-perfect game from our team to beat them, but that's what we'll be planning to do."
Senior Forward Megan Kakadelas
(on her assist) "I thought about (taking the shot) but Tina was wide open and I think she's a much better finisher than I am. Just because Barny's (Nicole Barnhart) a good goalie and I saw that she was wide open. So I just thought that it would be a sure `in' if I passed it to her rather than if I shot it, it would be questionable."
Sophomore Forward Tina Estrada
(on Stanford's defense) "They always have a strong defensive line. I just feel like especially the twins in the back are really smart players so it made it really hard for us to break them down. It took us awhile to get the ball in today; they're just really smart back there."
Senior Midfielder Leslie Osborne
(on playing North Carolina) "We're ready. I think that since last year we've been ready to play this game again. I think all of us on our team wanted to go through Carolina again. We're going to give them the best game we can give them but we're ready. Everyone's pretty excited and focused. We know we're going to have to play well. We're going to have to play a good 90-minute game so... I think we're prepared. Today was a perfect game for us to get even more prepared for next weekend."
Stanford
Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe
"It was a hard fought game. It could have come out either way. We had a few clear chances at the end of regulation. We got behind them. I think they had more shots than us but when it comes to clear chances which is kind of how I look at games, I think they had a clear chance that Nicole made an unbelievable save on. Other than that I think we both had an equal number of really clear chances that could have won the game.
Senior Forward Natalie Sanderson
(on her second shot) "Leah played me a great ball... They committed everyone on their right side of the field and so it was wide open and I took a touch forward. The goalie made actually a really good save. She came out pretty quick on me and got her hands on the ball and unfortunately I wasn't able to finish that one."
Senior Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart
(on Santa Clara's goal) "(Kakadelas) was wide open and I had to play the shot and she was able to slide it across."