May 12, 2001
BROWN HEAD COACH TED CLAPPER:
Q. What was your game plan?
A. Our game plan was not talking about the end of the game. Our game plane was to going and shutdown a team that is very strong in transition, very strong on the counter-attack. We were very successful at that for three quarters. Going back, I wish we would have had a little more offense, but we're not, right now, an extremely deep team offensively, but we played great defense, and that's what got us here. We stepped it up again, and for the freshmen and the sophomores to get this experience and feeling and confidence is a big step for our program - and it will feed into tomorrow's game and into next year.
BROWN PLAYER: SONIA LAMEL
Q. What was it like playing against Stanford - the No. 1 team?
A. When I first got in there, I thought I was going to be a lot more nervous than I was, but then I decided to take it for the experience. When I first got out there, I was guarding Brenda Villa and Ellen Estes. It was such a good experience - guarding them and not letting them score.
Q. What do you think your team gets by coming to this?
A. The experience. Playing at a higher level against people who are really going to challenge us.
STANFORD HEAD COACH JOHN TANNER
Q. Is this the kind of game you expected?
A. They played conservatively to try to shorten the game and try to stay in it. They played really well on defense and used the timeout and 6-on-5 so that when they had scoring opportunities they really wanted to take advantage of it and keep the tempo more to their liking and keep the score down. They really did stay in it for a period. With Sonia getting the two ejections early, they lost some of their 2-meter defense, and I thought we started producing more out of 2-meters as soon as she went out of the game.
STANFORD PLAYER HILARY GALLOGLY
Q. Is this the outcome you expected, or a little wider of a margin?
A. We weren't thinking in terms of a point score, more about playing good defense. In terms of the overall atmosphere, I think we were all a bit stunned when we came over from the other pool and saw all the people there. It was an amazing atmosphere.
Q. You're one game away from a national title, what does that feel like?
A. I think the "perfect season" and "undefeated" are really intimidating words, and we try not to look at it in terms of the big picture. Maybe on Monday, we can look back at it in terms of the big picture, but we're just playing a water polo game tomorrow and it's something that we've been doing for months and years, and if we put any more significance on it than - we're playing in a championship game tomorrow - then we'll get way too caught up in what in means rather than getting out there and doing what we do best.
STANFORD PLAYER KELLY SHOUEY
Q. Were you expecting this kind of game?
A. I think we did expect that kind of games in that a lot of places, especially at Brown, they probably haven't seen us play. So, what they know of us is that we're a counter-attacking team, and so we expected them to try to pull us out of that.
STANFORD PLAYER ELLEN ESTES
Q. What was today like?
A. I definitely didn't expect this many people at the semifinal game, I knew it would be packed tomorrow, but it was great to see it packed and full today.
Q. They played great defense, but you were still dominant...
A. I think the score did not reflect how good the game was. I looked up at the score in the fourth quarter, and we were definitely ahead by a lot but it didn't feel like that. It was a really good game. I don't think the score reflected how big an effort they gave.
UCLA HEAD COACH ADAM KRIKORIAN
"We had a shaky first quarter -- we definitely had jitters. Playing in the beautiful arena like this is a little bit intimidating. With all the hype that goes and great crowd that go with it being the first NCAA Championship - both teams felt a little nervous. Our execution was just a little bit off at first. But as the game wore on, I think they started to feel a little more comfortable. That showed in our play, and we got better each quarter. I'm just pleased with the win. We get to play for a championship tomorrow."
UCLA PLAYER ROBIN BEAUREGARD
"We started a little slow, but as the game went on, we started to get into our game, and things started to click a little bit better. LMU is a good team, and it's always tough to come to a beautiful facility like this - it's a little intimidating having so many fans. It was a good game to get into the tournament. "
"Same thing we do all year. Just relax and remember that it's just a game. There's an extra title added onto it, but it's still just a game. It's a round ball and it's going to bounce one way or the other. Hopefully it will bounce our way tomorrow."
LMU HEAD COACH JOHN LOUGHRAN
"I thought we started strong, but it's difficult to keep up with their counter attack, and I thought that's what broke us down at times - especially in the second quarter and again at the end of the game. We really struggled offensively. Their defense has more size and strength, and we had a really hard time getting the ball within two meters, and that took us out of our flow of offense. UCLA is obviously one of the best teams in the country, and if they play that way tomorrow, I think they're going to win the championship."
"Having an NCAA sponsored Championship means a huge amount of integrity and attention for the sport. I think the publicity we get at the NCAA championships will help the sport grow and spread. The goal would be to have a bigger tournament so we can have the top 8/10/12 teams here competing, and I think that's going to happen sooner than people think. An event like this will hopefully make conferences want to add. And with all the positive press we've been getting, I think it's really going to help us get to the next level to expand and add teams."
"We are going to talk about our front court offense, and how we need to be more effective. We're going to talk about our counter-attack. We're going to have the opportunity to counter-attack on brown as opposed to us chasing UCLA all day, and I think eventually we just want to play well. We're playing for third place, and we're here to win it."
LMU PLAYER CARA SCHINDLER
"I thought we had a great first quarter. We came out really strong, and played great defense. Which may be what let us down in the end - our defense collapsed and UCLA was able to go on a run."
"We need to have good counter-defense tomorrow, and capitalize on all our opportunities both offensively and defensively."
"The sport of Water polo has come so far in the past five years I've been here - the crowd, people, everything. This opens the doorway for young female athletes. There are so many opportunities for them in the future. This is a great accomplishment for women's athletics "