Beyond The Team Sheet: Amato, Kaufman and Skadsen
Tucson, Ariz. - Before the University of Arizona Wildcat soccer team faces off against the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies on Friday at 6 p.m. MST, they spoke about the previous matchup and what they need to do to pull out a win in College Station, Texas.
Head Coach Tony Amato
Q: What was that plane ride back like?
A: Well it started before that you know, the 30 minutes before the final whistle until we got to the airport, it was just as energetic and fired up as I’ve seen the girls all season long, really since we’ve been here. That’s what it’s all about. That feeling we had for those 30 minutes was really special and something that we’ll never forget.
Q: What’s going through your head as the seconds are winding down there in Stillwater?
A: Well, I mean you’re just coaching at that point. I remember looking at the clock with a minute and twenty-seven to go and that felt like a long minute and twenty-seven to go, but it was really just trying to coach and instruct and not let your mind go anywhere else until that final whistle.
Q: Fair enough. That final whistle blows, what’s the first thing you say to the girls?
A: I don’t even think I got to the girls. I didn’t even get a chance to say anything. I remember right when it ended there was a lot of hugs, a lot of high-fives, and some more hugs. So I think there were few words needed to be said. It was a lot of just body language that sent the message that we were all pretty excited.
Q: Again, another team that you’ve faced before. The last time you faced them, you made the mention that the game plan surrounded the defense on their five attackers.
A: They’re a very good team. We’re excited to be playing and to go there and play. It’s a great women’s college soccer environment, so we’re super excited for that. They’re a quality team, they’ve won a lot of games this year. It’s weird how it’s worked out. We played Oklahoma State earlier, we played A&M earlier, and now we get another shot at it. We’re going to have to stop those five attackers. They’re one of the better groups attacking-wise in the country and they’re a handful, so we’re going to revisit some things we did that week going into that game and hopefully build off that going in to Friday night.
Q: What did you guys do right?
A: Well, a lot of it was just our mentality. We believed going in to that game that we could win, and I think that carried us through. But defensively, we were grinding. We were tackling, working hard, battling and against a good team like that, you have to score some goals. We said it was going to take two or three goals for us to have a shot at winning that game, we scored two that night against them; three would have won it. We know that’s what it’s going to take again.
Q: Their two strikers, Groom and Monogue, 15 and 13 goals respectively, they had their shots, but neither of them got past Gabby.
A: They’re going to get their chances, and really it’s going to take Gabby to make a few saves. They may hit the post, they may get some chances that we need them to miss wide or high because they’re such good players that they’re going to get some of those chances. But we need to weather that a little bit and hopefully catch them on a counter or two and get a goal ourselves and really, that’s what will make the difference.
Q: Seconds are winding down, what’s going through your head in Stillwater?
A: They came out in the last five minutes and they were flying. Our defense was unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud of them. Obviously I was a little bit nervous, but we held them down and did what we needed to do.
Q: What was the bus ride leaving Stillwater like?
A: Tony set the mood as soon as he got on the bus. He was like, “That was awesome!” and everybody was just cheering. Coach has promised us ice cream, so everybody’s pretty excited about that, but we were all on such a high. It was such a great experience.
Q: Let’s go to this weekend. Last time you guys took on Texas A&M, you did well and the defense did phenomenal.
A: I just remember it was a battle basically all over the field. Going in at halftime being like, “we’re very in this” and we just have to grind basically. And that’s what our team does—we show up on the day and we just fight and fight and fight. That’s what we did and unfortunately they just wore us down by the end of the second half and kind of snuck that goal in, but otherwise we were there, we were fighting, everyone gave their all and left it on the field.
Q: How do you do it again?
A: Same way. We just play our game. Basically, we come out there and we train and kind of figure out what they do and their tendencies and how we can work around that. But other than that, our team is just built on the foundation of hard work, mentality, we have our core values and we just go out there and do it.