Tennessee vs. Xavier Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Joe Kirt

Opening Statement...
"Credit to Xavier on coming in and competing well for a 110 minutes, and we wish them the best of luck moving forward in the tournament. For us today, we had some really good moments, and we created some really good chances. Jaida scored a great goal to get us started. We had some other chances and didn't take them, and that's part of the game. They continued to compete and fight and stuck one in in the first overtime and obviously, we had a really good chance to equalize going in, and they got a shot at distance that goes in off the crossbar. They kept fighting and kept putting in balls behind us, making it difficult, pressing and again, we saw that a few times. But they did a good job of taking their chances and we didn't score enough today. That was the difference in the game."

On building the foundation for the future...
"I think, for us going forward, we got to continue to get tougher and more disciplined in the moment and continue to put our players in positions where they can be successful. And whether that's in our tactics or in our shape, we have to continue to develop our players and help them get better. That's what we talk about all the time - consistently getting better, being the best versions of ourselves. We got to continue to do that. I've got do a great job of holding them to that. We got to get better. That's what we are going to do, and that's been the message to our team. We got to continue to grow and learn and develop as players and people, and we are going to do that. That's the message moving forward. That's how we get better. We've got to heal from the sting of this. It's incredibly difficult for all of our players. (And for) our seniors Abbey (Burdette), Hannah (Zaluski), Kenz (Mackenzie George), and Lindsey (Romig), it's never the way you want to play your last game. For us, it's about continuing to go forward in the process and getting better. We've got to find moments to continue to make plays and put them in environments to do so."

Redshirt-Junior Jaida Thomas

On what the team can take with them from this going forward...
"I think just the hungriness, that's probably the big thing. And then just the feeling right now sucks. We don't want to lose on our home turf anymore."

Sophomore Midfielder Jordan Fusco

"I think the loss hurts all of us, but I think going through winter and spring, it gives us a lot of motivation to keep pushing and working hard so hopefully, we keep challenging each other and getting better over the spring, and it will show next fall."

Xavier Head Soccer Coach Nate Lie

Opening statement…
"I'd like to congratulate Tennessee for being here. They are a great opponent. I've told this story a few times when we were watching film for them to scout, I literally had to get up and leave the room a few times because it was making me nervous and nauseous. They have a crazy amount of attacking talent, power, and will really spread you out. And they had some really good chances. Maria Galley came up big. The game could have gone the other way if they had a bounce or two. Also, a story about Joe Kirt: I am really happy for him to have this opportunity. Both he and I had been assistant coaches for quite a while, and I think he really deserves it. We were here in 2018, and we were a new program and trying to make a point about how we treat our equipment and everything like that. We were making a point about the balls. All three of them were here (Rachel Dewey, Brooke Sroka, Molly McLaughlin). There were balls kicked over the goal into the woods and after the game, which we lost pretty badly, I went back into the woods to try to retrieve them, and it was early. I was bleeding when I came out, and Joe (Kirt) was out there with me, and I don't know another coach who would have ever thought to do that. It shows his character, and his team plays with great class. It was a great match. These big-time games come down to big time wins, and big-time players. I think fortunately, we found those moments, and we have those players. I don't know what it is about overtime. We have five ties this year. We found overtime twice in the postseason and scored five goals in two overtime games. Part of it might be the depth that we use that we pride ourselves on. I think we used seven or eight subs for at least 20 minutes, six subs for at least 40 minutes. I think that we were able to use our bench well over Tennessee, which maybe had an impact on the game. They have some special players that made it very scary for quite a time.

On if overtime was different schematically or if it was execution…
"We held on. I think Molly (McLaughlin), who plays the six for us and is a big part of our attacking talent, held a little bit deeper. (We) just had more numbers behind the ball, didn't want to get beat by one big ball or one mistake. We have players that can tail her and some others they can dribble through three of our players and still caused us lots of trouble. We didn't change anything, shape-wise or tactically. We talk about risk vs. reward. We felt comfortable tonight."

Graduate Midfielder Molly McLaughlin

On how tonight's win felt coming off last week's Big East loss…
"We were unsatisfied with the way that game went, and we thought we left some things on the table. So, it was just trying to put a complete game together and pick those things that we missed in the last game and implement them in this one. Here, you are one and done, so you have to leave everything out on the field. They (Tennessee) have unbelievable talent, but we have talent too. We are a true family and I think that came to play today, and we were really fortunate to get a win."

Graduate Forward Brooke Sroka

On losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, and if tonight's win felt sweeter because of it…
"I think obviously, it is a sweet feeling after last year. We like being the underdogs, and we function better when we are the underdogs, because that is what we grew up in this program being. Just maintaining that mentality throughout this has helped us improve from last year."

Graduate Midfielder Rachel Dewey

On the defensive effort of Maria Galley…
"Defense as a whole, I really think we work well off each other. Communication has been struggling a little bit, and I think that today it really came up big. Maria (Galley) really used her voice and came out strong and confident today. She saved one where she came out of the box and cleared it. It showed her confidence. I think, as a freshman, that is huge because she kind of just locks us together back there. I want to shout out Natalie Bain as well, she is all over the place. She is able to go side to side super well. I think that working for the person next to you is the biggest thing, and we always want to do that."

University of Tennessee Athletics