May 10, 2008

2008 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship

Consolation Semi-Final: UCLA 10 UC Davis 3

UCLA

Head Coach Adam Krikorian
"I have to give Davis a lot of credit. They played us so tough in the first half. I think they had us a little anxious and to be honest, I think it is the best thing for us, to go through a game like that. They played with intelligence, they played tough.

"I think that (Christie) Raycraft at two meters, number two, did an excellent job. I think she earned seven ejections. I think she was really tough to handle throughout the entire game.

"In the third quarter we did a nice job of settling down and playing the way we are capable of playing and ultimately I think that third quarter was the difference in the game."

"The way they were playing defensively meant that we were going to get a lot of opportunities from the outside. We didn't do a very good job of attacking their zone in the first half, but did a much better job in the second half."

"Obviously Tanya (Gandy)'s little run of three consecutive goals was probably the difference in the game. It brought some momentum back to us."

"This is the fourth consecutive championship game for the seniors, but like I have said all year long, this team doesn't really get caught up in that."

"It's a credit to them, their personalities, and their drives to become better players and for us to become better as a team."

"I guarantee you that tomorrow when we line up, the last thing we will be thinking about will be winning a fourth championship. We are just thinking about playing great water polo with intensity and intelligence."

"I think that it is more difficult to get to the top as opposed to staying there. Obviously right now we have experience. We have been there, we have done it and we can draw from those experiences."

"I think that a couple of the exclusion were just bad luck, not bad calls, but bad luck. I think it was good for us, the fact that we had to use a little bit more players and some of the younger players played a lot more. "

Junior Tanya Gandy
"I am really glad we got to play Davis today. I think it was a hard game, but we were expecting that. They were definitely ready to compete today, and that is what we play for, we play to compete."

Junior Anne Belden
"I was excited with the way we played today. I think we played with a lot of heart. I am glad that it was really physical, I think we needed that going into tomorrow's game."

"It was really great to see the freshmen step up and play in an NCAA semi final game. I know that at the beginning of the year, with 12 freshman coming in, we didn't know what to expect, but now we have total confidence in them."

UC DAVIS

Head Coach Jamie Wright
"I was really proud of how our team responded to the challenge. To play a team that was 31-0 going into today can be kind of daunting."

"I thought our group did a really good job of absorbing UCLA's onslaught in the first half. We gave them one goal in the first quarter, but otherwise we played pretty good defense and enough offense to keep them defending which put them a little bit on their heels."

"I thought that the little spurt by Tanya Gandy really changed the flavor of the game."

"All in all I am really happy. We are excited to be in the top four, we are excited to play for third in the national championships tomorrow."

"It's part of our game plan, part of everyone's game plan, including the national team game plan, to not give up goals out of two meters and to block shots and make people score from the outside."

"This group does a very good job of field blocking, which takes a lot of pressure off of the Goalie."

"Our plan was to stay active and to keep them reacting to us defensively. If you keep moving and they have to defend and you are drawing ejections, then you use their physicality against them."

"I think we have a very fit and fast team. The counterattack has been something that we have done well. We have scored a lot of goals of counters and since we have a fast team we have been good defending against other team's fast breaks."

Junior Lindsay Kiyama
"We were really pumped and really excited (to face #1 ranked UCLA). It's always kind of fun to be the underdog."

"We had nothing to lose, we were honored to be playing a number one team and we knew we could take it to them."

"I think that one of the things that UCLA is really good at is that when you are looking to shoot you are thinking defense as well because their counter attack is so strong."