Nov. 13, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats

Santa Clara Head Coach Jerry Smith:

"We're happy with the win and happy with the performance and happy to be advancing to the next round. I thought that Saint Louis was a very tough opponent today. They really made us work for everything. I think one of the keys in the game was the early second half goal that was scored. I was really thankful to get a goal in the first half. We had to work really hard for our goal, mostly because Saint Louis was very organized. But, I think Tina (Estrada) dribbling in the second half and sliding the ball to Brittney Klein for that early second half goal really took the pressure off of us and took some energy away from the Saint Louis team. I think that was a key goal in the game but, overall, I'm very pleased with our performance today."

(on scoring nine goals in the first two matches of the tournament) "I think going into the tournament we were really confident in our ability to hold onto the ball and to defend well. Defending well is one of the key components of the NCAA tournament for sure. If there was a question mark on our team in was in our ability to put the ball in the net and we learned a little bit about that on Friday night but I think we learned a lot about that today. Saint Louis is one of the most well-organized defensive teams we've played against."

(on Boston College) "I think we're going to be a better team next week than we were this week. I think Julie Ryder said it right, `we're in a really good place right now'. I've never seen Boston College play. I know this--they are good enough to be in the round of 16 and that means they're pretty good. So we'll prepare ourselves for a very good team."

Senior Micaela Esquivel:

"I think we essentially won the game by working at possession and working hard at keeping the ball. They were attacking but our forwards were working back and helping the defense so we had a lot of pressure off of us (the defense). We really possessed the ball to prevent their attack."

Sophomore Brittney Klein:

"I think the first goal made us more confident going forward. So in the second half we were on our toes ready to get some more goals."

Saint Louis Head Coach Tim Champion:

"It's disappointing to lose but we were playing one of the best teams in the country on the road. We worked hard, played well. They are a very, very, very good team and they are going to go a long way in the tournament and possibly win the national title. So, we're proud of how we played."