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In front of a sold out crowd at Audi Field, the Washington Spirit came from behind to beat Bay FC 2-1 in extra time of the NWSL Quarterfinals. After the match, Head Coach Jonatan Giráldez, midfielderHal Hershfelt, and defender Tara McKeown —whose 85′ minute goal tied the match—spoke with the media.
On the key to winning the match:
Giráldez: I think both things. We didn’t expect today that they were defending with a mid and low block. They were not jumping any time to Esme (Morgan) and Tara (McKeown). We were waiting just a little bit, but they didn’t open spaces to play in spaces and in pocket. We had to modify small details to take advantage, especially with midfielders No. 8 and No. 10 to have more chances to participate in the last meters and occupy the box, especially with more people. And also attack on the sides. I think with side back and wingers, we had more chances to attack today. That adjustment, in terms of tactical plan that we had to do today, because we expected a little more with midfielders and wingers, maybe jumping a little bit to the first line, but you have to adapt as soon as possible to understand what is happening. Then, for sure, compete. You need to compete, always. From the beginning until the last minute, and we did it. It is not the first time we had to compete and come back the result. I think the people were believing during the whole game that we were going to have chances to win this game, and we did it.
On bringing Leicy Santos in at halftime:
Giráldez: Yes, she was playing last week and the feeling the previous week was not the best. She was not in her best shape. This week, after the last game, after the good job that Hal (Hershfelt), Heather (Stainbrook), and Courtney (Brown) did against North Carolina, I think they deserved to play a game from the start. You never know if you have to play 90 or 120 minutes, and I was speaking honestly with Leicy about the perception of how she is. I thought that the best for the team and also the best for her was, “Ok, have a good participation today but not from the beginning.” You never know in the last minutes if you’re going to need her, and also because sometimes you have to prepare the games for not just who the best starter players are. You also need to prepare thinking, “What can happen in the second half? Today we had another plan for the second half and Leicy had a good impact in terms of attacking and also defending because she ended the opponent’s possession a lot of times, especially in the second half. I think she’s going to be more ready next week than this week.
On the intensity of the playoff game:
Giráldez: I think the crowd, we are having amazing feelings, especially the last game we were playing at home. We won the last six games playing at home, and I think that the crowd here is good. I expect it. I spoke with the players before the game about that. We have to spread out the energy and try to include all the people creating chances and being aggressive. If I expect about the opponent seeing difference between playoff and today, being honest, I didn’t feel it. I felt that it was the most important game of the season, for sure. But in terms of game plan, maybe we didn’t start the game as we had to start the game. I don’t know because playoff, you only have one chance, but I think in general it’s a good experience. It’s a good experience because we have a game today a lot of young players starting the game, and I think that experience from today is going to help them for the future, for the next game, for the next semifinal. And after coming back, the result with those players is much more important. Sometimes, they say, “It was a good point to win today, but especially in the way that we did it.” I think it is going to help us a lot in the future, in the next week. I didn’t want to comeback. I prefer to win the game from the beginning, but sometimes you have to react, and I think the reaction after conceding the first goal was good. In the performance of the game, I think we were better than them. We created more chances than Bay FC, and I think we deserved to qualify.
On the come back after Bay scored:
Giráldez: We played with two strikers in that moment. We only played with one holding midfielder like Hal and Leicy also between lines. I was happy before the goal that we were attacking clear on the side with wingers, but we were not getting enough people into the box, occupying box, so I think Lena is one of the best doing that, just being there. She created a big, big chance after the comeback, so defensively be a little more aggressive and throw all the players from the defensive line to jump and have chances to recover the ball as we did in the first goal with Tara – a good jump, and then a good action in terms of attacking. Then, in terms of attacking, add more players into the box because you need to go for the result. After they scored the first goal, I think it was the best moment to keep pushing. Maybe other times you can decide, “Okay, we are 1-1. We can do other things,” but I believe in that moment that we could keep pushing them, and we created other chances, we didn’t score, and then in the extra time we did.
On how the crowd played a role in the match:
Giráldez: I have to say, I want to say thank you, today, to all of them. I think always, but especially today. We need them. They were player No. 12. The atmosphere that we felt from the beginning until the end was amazing. I always like to emphasize, when you are winning, it is easy. Everyone is, “Ok, we are winning; we’re enjoying it.” But when you are losing the game, what about now? I think the reaction from the players was good and also from the fanbase was brilliant. I have to say thank you to all of them. We are going to need them for the next week. We have to keep pushing. We have to keep going. We have no easy games playing in the regular season, and also for sure in playoffs. The crowd today did their job, but we are going to need them also for the next week.
On things the team can improve on:
Giráldez: When we play a game, I always do the same things in terms of what we did good, what we did bad, what we have to improve, and what we have to show to the players. That’s the first thing for tomorrow. When we speak about that, we speak about attacking, defending, and also in terms of competitiveness and mentality. Those are important things, also to compete in these type of games. Today, we can speak about our first half in terms of possession phase, it was not good enough. We improved a little bit in the second half, and when you concede a goal, you can put in practice a lot of things you are speaking to during the season. In terms of the reaction, and the reaction today was brilliant. It was a big, big learning for the team today, in terms of preparation. Because you can play well, you can play bad, but you have to be there all the time. You have to be competitive. You have to be in the game. You cannot be disconnected. You cannot do different things. You have to play for the team. Today is a good example in different situations of how we have to perform. Attacking and defending, we can do better things for the next week. We are going to learn a lot about today, but also I think we can take advantage, especially about the reaction and mental preparation for the next week.
On Asisat Oshoala and Racheal Kundananji:
Giráldez: They are amazing players. I was speaking to the bench that I saw Asisat and Kundananji, they were tired, but they kept creating chances, they kept creating. It feels like they are not there, but they are still there. I know I was speaking with her in the end of the game. She wanted to kill me today because I think we have a good relationship. I wish for the best for her in her future. When you have to play against good players, you have to do a perfect job. We did a good game in general. Kundananji, she didn’t create chances today, and she swallowed the best players in the league. Asisat, she created one clear chance, and she scored. In general, as a team, we defended very well today. Good learning for the next week.
On McKeown’s goal:
Giráldez: She deserved this goal. I think she had chances. It is the first goal she has scored in this season, so the other day I was reading that 15 of our players have scored a goal, now we can say 16. Let’s see next week if we can increase the number of players also. I am very happy because it was not an easy week for her, and she was performing very well during the whole season. She is doing an amazing job. She improved a lot in possessions, especially. Defensively, she is a great player because she is powerful, she likes the challenge when she has to compete against good strikers, when she has to push, when she has to bump. I am very happy because she deserves it today, this victory and for sure the goal she scored.
On Tara’s emotional week:
McKeown: It was a really hard few days for me, but I knew all my teammates had my back, and we went into this game just believing in each other. When we were down a goal, I knew that our season wasn’t over, and I didn’t miss my sister’s wedding for nothing. When I saw the opportunity to shoot, I did, and thank god it went in.
On Hershfelt’s late shot that hit the post:
Hershfelt: I was hoping it would go in, naturally. The game could’ve ended 30 minutes earlier, but it didn’t. I was just happy we were able to grind it out in overtime.
On Bay FC’s strategy:
McKeown: I think we’ve been working on a lot of rest defense, so when I saw that I was supposed to be tight to Oshoala, and they were trying to clear it to her, I knew that I either had to win the ball or stop the play there. I won the ball, and I saw a space in front of me, and I just took it. Like you said, they were compact in the box, so crossing it wasn’t working as much for us at the time, and I just took a long range one.
On adjusting to play Bay FC since they were not pressing like expected:
McKeown: I think a lot of patience. Moving the ball back and forth to make one of their forwards step out of the line so then we could find the open player in the pocket and be able to go for it easier.
Hershfelt: I think patience and on the ball. What she said, being able to switch it side-to-side kind of creates an opening, and when those openings happen, it’s so fast. Kudos to them for being able to find it. For the midfield, personally, it was honestly just giving the center backs their space and kind of working off of them because they were kind of the ones that were setting the tone for us.
On preparing to face either Gotham FC or Portland Thorns FC:
McKeown: I think during training this week we’ll just go into it with the same mindset that we did this week. Whoever we play, it’s gonna be a tough game. All playoff games are, so we’ll just have to come out on the front foot and know the tactics and then stick to them.
Hershfelt: Regardless of what tactics that we do or what we change, I feel like our mentality is always going to stay the same. Today, we kind of gutted that game out like last minute. I feel like that’s something that we’re going to have to stick to regardless of tactics.
On how McKeown felt about scoring the goal:
McKeown: It felt amazing to score that goal.
On how it felt hearing the crowd from the pitch:
Hershfelt: It impresses me every single home game that we have. That one definitely took the cake when it came to energy and stuff. At one point Leicy was hyping up the crowd. Everyone was going crazy waving towels. I was like, “This does not feel real right now.” Even when we clear a ball out of bounds, people are just raging. It’s really cool to be a part of that.
McKeown: It’s all in like the little things we would do. We heard the crowd and they were able to keep us going.
On the crowd shift before and after they scored:
Hershfelt: It’s weird because even though we went down a goal in a very important game, there was never a doubt in my mind that this is the last game. I knew that we were going to come back. I feel like the crowd helps with that because it’s just energy. When someone is screaming at you, you’re going to run harder, you’re going to make a tackle. When there’s all those people doing that there – Jona calls it like the 12th player. It literally feels like a 12th player on the field.
On the halftime message:
Hershfelt: I think for us we needed more urgency and more bodies in the box. Even on that second goal that we scored, it wasn’t the prettiest on our part. Being able to have numbers in the box and forcing stuff into the box in an important game like that can turn into us getting a goal.
McKeown: After they scored, I just looked over to the sideline and saw (Jona) going like this [arms up] and pushing us along. And in my head, he’s just saying “vamos.” I was like, “Yeah, let’s go!”
Hershfelt: You never feel any doubt or anything, even though it’s like, “Dang, I really wish we didn’t concede that goal because now we have to come back.” There’s still zero doubt.
On the key to winning tonight:
McKeown: I think it was just belief in everyone, like (Hal) said, we just all believed that our season wasn’t over. Going into overtime, we knew we were on the upper hand, and we wanted to end it there. We didn’t want to go to PKs. We were able to do that, so it felt great.
On the similarities to the 2021 NWSL Championship team:
McKeown: I see the fight and the family unit that we have now is the same from the 2021 team and just the belief that we have in each other no matter what. Whether you’re a rookie, if you start every game, if you come off the bench – we believe in everyone the same. It just shows because as we make changes and everyone is coming in, there is more energy, and I think that will take us the long way, hopefully.
On the emotions she felt after scoring the Spirit’s first goal:
McKeown: It was just great. Everyone was so happy for me. They knew it’s been a hard week for me, but I know that they all had my back. They were just so happy that I was able to get that goal for us and going into extra time, giving me all the encouragement to keep going.
On connecting with the fanbase:
Hershfelt: It’s so cool. Even at the end of every single game, being able to meet people and say hey to people. It’s the coolest thing ever. I feel like we build on that every single home game that we have. We had the Fan Appreciation Night — that was really sick, being able to beat the drums in the middle of the field. That was so fun. Just stuff like that. I feel like people coming, keeping good relationships with them because they honestly help us on the field.
On the difference playing in front of a sold out crowd today compared to the last playoff match at home:
McKeown: It’s so amazing. We feel all the energy from the fans. I think it just shows how much women’s sports are growing and women’s soccer. It feels amazing to be a part of this right now and having people want to come to our games and watch us. Like (Hal) said, meeting the fans after the games is amazing. I couldn’t be more happy than having all the people here tonight, and I hopefully we can do it again next weekend.
On how it feels to play when viewership in the sport is so high:
Hershfelt: It feels amazing, and I honestly think our staff, our coaches, and our ownership on our team kind of pushed that agenda, and they are so happy for us when we win on and off the field. I feel so thankful. It’s my rookie year, being able to be in an environment like this with a team like this, I am just very grateful.