Portland Thorns FC vs. FC Kansas City Quotes
June 6, 2013
Portland Thorns FC Quotes
Head coach Cindy Parlow Cone
Overall thoughts on the game:
“I would prefer the score to be a little bit of a wider margin, but Kansas City is a tremendous team. They never say die, they fought to the end and scored some tremendous goals to put us under a ton of pressure. We had a little bit of a coming together this week, just talking about what we want to be as a team, who we want to be as individuals and what we want to represent on the field. Chicago coming here and beating us the way they did was a great wake-up call.”
On the performance of forward Alex Morgan:
“Everyone knows Alex is a great player. She brings so much to the game — her pace, her hard work, her skill, her passing. She’s one of the best forwards in the world and she showed that tonight.”
On the play of the Thorns FC defense:
“Inconsistent. I think at times we were very good, and at times Kansas City pulled us apart and we did not do as well of a job as we needed to.”
On what her and the team have learned the past week:
“I’ve learned a lot and I think the team has learned a lot about themselves and each other and about the Thorns as a whole. Some of the things we did this week are difficult to do at the beginning of the season. It was a good wake-up call for us, and I’m glad that we responded the way that we did and I liked the never-say-die attitude that both teams played with tonight.”
Forward Alex Morgan
On the win in general:
“I’m just happy that we won. We talked about passion and mentality and how we needed to pick it up this game and I think everybody really stepped it up this game.”
On regrouping as a team after the loss to Chicago:
“Yesterday we had a couple of meetings actually, just on our mentality and on why we’re here, why we’re all playing here and the passion that we’ve had for so long, for this game of soccer. That was definitely part of it.
“We came up with some words and a couple of the words were ‘confidence’—I think we showed that today—and ‘united’ and I think that we were united today. We were moving for each other, we were supporting each other, we working for each other and with each other, and I think that it really showed today throughout the game.”
On tonight’s match being one of her best of the season:
“I do think tonight was one of my better games, and I think that we were all just on the same page. Everyone was moving for each other. I was just anticipating the balls. Sinc [Christine Sinclair] was playing the balls, Allie [Long] was playing, Mana [Shim], even Dani [Foxhoven] when she came in at halftime and lifted the energy. Everyone just felt really good, supporting each other. Coming into that, I was really motivated. I felt confident about this team, about myself. Obviously I love to score goals or contribute in whatever way I can. In that way, getting the first goal, getting an assist really just helped boost my confidence.”
On having scored four goals in the last five days between the U.S. National Team’s win over Canada and tonight’s win over Kansas City FC:
“It feels good to be playing the way I have been. I just try to support my teammates as much as possible and not think about ‘okay, I have to score a goal.’ That’s when I kind of get in my own head. So it’s just working hard, putting the effort in. It really is contagious, showing your teammates that you want to work for them and they’ll want to do the same. I think that’s what happened tonight.
“For the national team, it had been a while since we had been together so it was great to get in with that team. It feels good to score and to help my team out.”
Midfielder Courtney Wetzel
On her first goal of the season:
“I think it was just a combination of good passing and moving and a great ball from Marian [Dougherty]. It was pretty hard to miss, to be honest.”
On how it felt to score her first goal in front of the home crowd:
“It felt great. Almost every game I’ll pick someone out in the crowd that I knew or who I saw down at OSU, or, if I’m signing an autograph, writing ‘Go Beavs’ and so it’s just fun and comforting to not just have the support of an area, but everyone around in this side of the state.”
On the importance of starting fast after the loss to Chicago:
“I think it was huge. Coming off the loss last weekend, it was a big statement game for us so to start off the way we did, it was a lot different than our previous games, even our wins. I think it gave us a lot of confidence to match their scores when they would come back.”
On Kansas City coming back in the game:
“They’re a good team and so when they went down, they pushed numbers forward, which is always difficult to defend. They did a good job of responding to our goals and it was just good for us that we were able to hold them off for the 90 minutes.”
FC Kansas City Quotes
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski
On the status of Renae Cuellar:
“X-rays were negative and right now she has an ankle sprain. She is tough and will want to go on Sunday (against Seattle) but we will have to see how everything shakes out over the next couple of days.”
On the loss:
“Portland is a good team and they played well tonight. I think our team stepped up though and played hard all the way to the end. We need to take the good things from tonight and improve on the bad things for Seattle.”
Notes:
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Thursday’s match featured the highest combined score (7 goals) in the league this season.
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Portland scored more than two goals in a game for the first time this season on Thursday.
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Forward Alex Morgan recorded the first-ever multi-assist game in Thorns FC history.
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Morgan’s four points (1g, 2a) is a new season-high in a single game for Thorns FC.
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Midfielder Courtney Wetzel earned her second consecutive start and scored her first career NWSL goal on Thursday.
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Portland is 7-0-0 when scoring first.
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Portland is 5-0-0 when leading at halftime.
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Morgan’s goal in the 13th minute is the quickest goal scored by Thorns FC at JELD-WEN Field this season.
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Goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc’s five saves put her in a tie for the NWSL lead with 34 overall saves.
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Portland’s nine shots on goal ties a season high (April 27 at Chicago; May 12 at Chicago).
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Portland’s 16 goals scored in 2013 ranks second in the NWSL.
- LeBlanc’s individual shutout streak ended at a season-long 224 minutes.
Editor's Note: Following a review on June 7 by the National Women's Soccer League and STATS, Inc., Portand's fourth goal of the match in the 66th minute has been credited to midfielder Allie Long, with the assist going to forward Alex Morgan. The goal was originally credited to Morgan.
