Dash interim head coach Juan Carlos Amorós
(on today’s game) “It was a very difficult game, it was definitely a different Gotham side. Credit to them because they turned it around from Sunday to today, it was very good. We stuck to our game plan. We were the better team, most of the time we spent playing in their half, we couldn't create a lot of chances, but we were recovering the ball and creating some clear-cut opportunities. Obviously, the sending off affected the game. We were able to finally capitalize on things we’ve really been working on like switching in the final third, both goals came from those situations. Maybe, the unfortunate goal (we conceded) we're not very happy with that considering especially the way it was scored. We had to manage the game at the end. Another experience, we finished the game with young players having to take responsibility and they did it. Very pleased with the result and the performance. We keep growing. It's about competing and winning, and we're doing fantastically well.”
(on being tied for first place) “It feels really good. What really matters is to be there at the end of the season. Could we do that? I don't know. Only time and our work will tell. It's where the Houston Dash wants to be. We want to be as high as possible. It is very difficult to be in that position, it is extremely hard in this league. Very pleased with being able to show consistency and being able to be in that position is obviously good. It's not important to me, now it's important to be there at the end of the season. We keep pushing and get ready for a quick turnaround and in going to San Diego on Saturday.”
(on halftime adjustments) “Well it was a question of believing in ourselves, reminding them of what we've been working on in training in such a short period of time. We know the other day we were probably creating more chances than today, but we knew that if we kept doing those things (we would succeed). We worked a lot on crossing, we knew that we could create chances, we scored in that situation. After the switch we work on switching in the final third and we scored in another situation like that. I'm very pleased that what we're working on is actually coming out in the games. A couple of moments, we were in a couple of direct plays that got us off guard in the back. Those were clear cut chances for them to be fair, but overall we've recovered the ball a lot on the halfway line, playing on the opposite half. I had the feeling that we would create more goals.”
(on managing workload) “It's a question of the personnel, looking at every scenario. trying to anticipate things and go gameby-game. Understanding where your players are physically at each time, I think we have a fantastic medical team that does greatwork in terms of keeping an eye on those things. Frances (Gilbert-Carlson), Copa, we've got the nutrition side of things working really hard. We even got the psychology side with Lennie (Waite). We have a whole team not only me, I'm directing, everyone isplaying their role to guarantee that the players are in the best shape possible. It is key, so listening to this multidisciplinary team and making decisions together. It is important"
(on the importance of winning tonight) “Its a weird feeling when you're a coach because once you get the points, every point is important. Once you lose the point and then every point is a point lost that you didn't want to lose. Today after three wins, then you go in again like the other day you draw, you get frustrated. Today in a very similar scenario down to 10, the players have been able to relax and find that little detail then being able to compete and believe in each other, the players coming off the bench and pushing together. That for me is the key. Every point is very important. We are fighting to the death for all of them. That's how I want the team to be from now, that's the spirit and how we want the Houston Dash to be.”
Dash Forward Ebony Salmon
(on today’s game) "It was a tough game. We knew that going into this match, we knew that often we're going to be a different team to the side from a couple of weeks ago. We were disappointed with the last game and we went into this game, knowing that we needed the three points. That's what we got."
(on the play of MF Marissa Viggiano) "We say this every game, how important not just the 11 players who started the game, but the players that come into the game and the players that don't play at all. That showed today, Marissa (Viggiano) came in and obviously had a really big impact on the game. In the end, she got the winning goal. We have to go through the rest of the season knowing that it's obviously disappointing for the players that don't go out there and start every game. But when the substitutes come on and can do that, it just shows the importance of the whole thing."
(on the key to getting three points tonight) "From the outside, when a team goes a player down, it kind of seems like that you should always be on top. Sometimes when the opposition goes a player down, it can actually be harder because they just sit in, but Gotham was still going for the win. That left a lot of space for us to exploit. We did that really well."
(on facing San Diego Wave FC) "We've had a really busy month of fixtures and all of the fixtures have been really important games for us. We've set ourselves a target as a team that I think we're well on. We have to go into every game wanting to win. As much as we're in a good place in the table. We can see how tight it is. So, we can't afford to drop points at any game and against Louisville we were disappointed to only get one point from that game. We now have to go into San Diego again push to get the threepoints."
(on the goal she scored) "We have been working on finishing from crosses and one of the things Juan (Carlos Amoros) said to me after the last game going into this game, I need to stay in the box and be the person, the target for those crosses. Rather than drifting out wide and for me that was what in my head this game and I saw that I saw Ryan (Gareis) and Maria (Sanchez) out there and I knew for me, I just had to get on the end of anything that came in the box. It was just instinct to kind of hit it with my left foot and I got a little lucky with it bouncing off the keeper going down, but you know luck is a big part of football. That was on our side today as well as the hard work and the performance that the team put in."
Dash Midfielder Marissa Viggiano
(on today’s game) “Coming into the game today, we were excited that we played again so soon after Friday's game. Because we weren't all too happy with that overall performance. It was so great to get the win tonight, a total team effort. It was really fun being out there. Playing, moving the ball. We're starting to really get comfortable with each other and really get comfortable with the style of play that we want to produce. You really saw that tonight. Overall, amazing team effort and win.”
(on the game-winning goal) “I remember Sophie (Schmidt), got the ball on the right side, was able to switch it over which was something that we really wanted to focus on going into the game today. She played a great ball to switch the point of attack. I found myself with the ball on my foot, driving a little bit and had some space. I remember Ryan (Gareis) was wanting or was running up the left side and I had heard her –I was almost just going to wait till she got there to play it to her, but they kind of parted ways and I just shot it and the ball went in.”
(on what the talk was like when she came in the game) “To keep doing what we were doing. Keep switching the ball. We were finding a lot of success when we were able to do that. We knew that if we kept doing that, we were going to get chances and when we got those chances we needed to put them away. That's exactly what we did tonight in that second half. Now we have to take that into Saturday in San Diego.”
(on being tied for first place with Portland) “Obviously, it's a great feeling. It's really exciting. It's showing all the hard work that we put in since February, but we're not satisfied with it. You know, we still have a month and a half left of the regular season. Right now it doesn't really mean anything that we're first. We can't plateau. We have to keep pushing every single day in training, in games, so that we can be at the top come playoffs.“
(on the team contribution) “That's so important. We have a group of women who can all be outon the field and that's what makes us so good. Our training sessions are so competitive. We're pushing each other to be better and it just shows the type of players that we are and the group that we can be.”
(on the difference of this week and last week) “Last week, we created chances we had opportunities. We just didn't have that final product. There's going to be days like that. Unfortunately, that's how the game goes. From last Friday's game to today, these last couple days, we've really been focusing on that final product, putting the ball in the back of the net and it showed tonight.”
(on how she feels about the upcoming game against the San Diego Wave) “We just have to keep playing how we've been playing and the results will come from that. We have to keep focusing on ourselves, which is what we've been doing these past couple of weeks.”
