May 15, 2016
LOS ANGELES -
2016 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center -- Game #9 (7th Place Game)
UC Santa Barbara 8, San Diego State 2
San Diego State Quotes
Head Coach Carin Crawford opening statement:
"Well we are very disappointed to have to end our season like that. I thought the girls fought hard. I think there might have been a little bit of fatigue from our close game yesterday, but that is not an excuse. It just felt like at points in the game, we had a 0-0 first quarter going and then we had a turnover to a break to 2-on-1 for them to get their first goal. We were very much in the game, but it felt like we couldn't quite get that goal to get within one. We would give one up, get one, and give one up. Sometimes in games like that, when you can't consolidate the bits of momentum that you have, it feels like no shots go in and it feels like there is a force field around the cage. We didn't take the best shots, I felt like some of the shots on goal weren't the best shot-selection. Then, often when you are playing catch up you just put up anything and hope it goes in, it becomes a dynamic that is sort of hard to break out of and so credit to UC Santa Barbara, they really stayed the course and played even when we started to cheat up and get out. They were pretty steady and consistent and their goalie made some great saves."
Alyssa Diacono on playing in her first NCAA Tournament:
"To start off, I wish we could send off the seniors on a better note, but at the beginning of season in January, like Carin (Crawford) said, we did come out of tournaments winning one game and losing three. There was a lot of doubt from other teams and to see we made it this far, that is a good feeling. Then winning conference is the cherry on top and I think the girls have really dug deep and we put everything we had in these last two weeks. Playing Wagner was not an easy game. We didn't know if we were going to make it this far and to say that we got to play in May I think is a very good feeling, but obviously we wish we could have come out on a better note."
UC Santa Barbara Quotes
Head Coach Serela Kay opening statement:
"It is always exciting to end on a high note, on a win. I think today the team settled in and came out strong. It definitely was a defensive effort, being able to shut them out (first half) and go up 2-0. It set the momentum and the tone for the game. We countered well. I think we missed a few early counter attack opportunities that could have put us up earlier. But the nice thing is, we kept our head in the game and I feel like the team finally came down from the clouds and from the bright lights. We started to find our rhythm and come into our own."
On the 5-0 run once SDSU pulled to within one goal:
"Lauren (Martin) is a huge piece of our puzzle. She is actually the one against San Diego State earlier in the year, that scored the winning goal in sudden death overtime. Obviously, she is a big piece, being our center on the offensive end, that created that momentum for us."
On the difficulties of beating a team three times in the season:
"I think this game was like no other where we needed to come together as a team on defense. It wouldn't have mattered who we played today, to be honest. I think that was the key piece. That created the momentum on the counter attack and in transition and allowed Lauren (Martin) to get position in the front court and get our momentum going."
Lauren Martin on what it meant to her winning a Big West title and earning the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth:
"It was definitely a really long journey, but I wouldn't change it for the world. This season, we knew that the Big West was the end goal for us. We had some really heart-breaking losses at the beginning of the season. But once we started conference games, we knew that we needed to come out hard and carry that momentum into the Big West Tournament. It was such an amazing feeling because we all believed in each other and it was such a huge team effort. It was really surreal. Getting the opportunity to come to the NCAA Tournament is amazing. Our first two games were definitely rocky, but it is always nice to finish with a win."