April 28, 2006

ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship
Semifinal Round - Friday, April 28, 2006
#2 Maryland vs. #3 North Carolina

Maryland Head Coach Dave Cottle
Opening Statement:
You have to give a lot of credit to the University of North Carolina, they came in here in a situation where they looked like they had nothing to play for and their kids played their tails off. They had some kids that were out and they still found a way to play well. I give them a lot of credit. Saying that, I also give our kids a lot of credit because we are down 6-1 at half and we hoped to cut it to one or two by the end of third quarter and to get to even says a lot about our kids and our character too. They outshoot us 16-6 in the first quarter, they get the best of the play. A credit to our kids, off 10 days, we didn't play well early. We battled and it was a good win for the University of Maryland.

On the sluggishness of the first half:
You don't make excuses for it. We just never got settled early and that's a credit to them that they kept us off balance a little bit. I think at after one quarter we had two shots on goal. You're not going to win many games with two shots on goal.

On what the seniors said in the locker room:
I would like to say that it was some remarkable thing that was said in the locker room, but what happened was our seniors stepped up and took responsibility for what happened. What turned this around were our kids. We didn't make that many adjustments, our kids just played that much better in the second half. We stayed very positive with each other and with ourselves at the half, especially when the game was going bad. One kid made a mistake and Joe (Walters) walked over and banged him on the back and told him not to worry about it. The kids were very positive with each other and maybe that was because we have been down in a few other games this year. And hopefully we have learned from that.

On advancing to the championship game vs. Virginia:
I hope we play a little better than how we played in the first half tonight. You look at the way this tournament was set up; it was going to be difficult for the teams that played Friday night. But I like our guys; I think our guys have improved a great deal. I think you are going to see a much better team on Sunday afternoon. I think we are going to play with a lot of pizzazz and a lot of juice. I think were going to play on Sunday. What happens I don't know, but Maryland will be good on Sunday.

Senior, Attack - Joe Walters
On coming out of the timeout in the fourth quarter with less than two minutes remaining in the game:
On that last time out, we came out and ran the same play we've been running all game. Off that same play there are a few options. We had Brendan (Healy) with the ball, who had the hot hand, and he made a good decision. When he passed to me a few guys came to me and I got a pass to Mike Phipps who got a great look.

Senior, Midfielder - Brendan Healy
On not forcing shots in the first half:
I was taking bad shots, we took some bad shots in the second quarter. But we started getting poise. The last couple weeks, we've been able to get control of the game. We started to calm down going into the second half and then coming out in the third quarter we just knew that if we stayed calm, we would chip away on their lead and get back into the game.

On his performance tonight:
I needed a night like this pretty badly. It has been a very frustrating season for me. I've been getting looks. I feel I've improving every week. I knew it was going to come. The supporting cast is always there and if they are doing their thing well, then it's usually easier for me.

Senior, Midfielder - Bill McGlone
On his assist performance tonight and getting his teammates involved:
I was trying to make open looks. There was one time it was a transition goal and guys always give Joe (Walters) a lot of attention. They were sliding a little early so you always look for the open man after that. The guys I was throwing to were finishing.

North Carolina Head coach John Haus
Opening statement:
Well, obviously it's a disheartening loss for our team today. We couldn't come out in the third quarter and some of the fourth and sustain what we did in the first half, but I'll give our guys a lot of credit. Maryland tied it up and we bounced back and got a two-goal lead and just weren't able to hold onto it at the end. We'll congratulate Maryland. They've got an outstanding team and we wish them the best of luck in the ACC final and the NCAAs.

On what wasn't sustained in the third:
It's everything. We were 2-of-7 on face-offs, we were 6-of-9 on clearing the ball, turned it over there, we were outshot 13-7; I mean, you just go right down the list. And Maryland's a very good team and came out and were able to take control.

On whether the goalie switch sparked the team:
I'm not quite sure. Grant (Zimmerman) did a good job when he came in and Trey (Sheain) did a good job when he was in there.

On how difficult the season has been:
Well, it's been very difficult. When you're a student-athlete and you compete at the highest level, you want to win. We've been in this situation I can't tell you how many times this year against top 10 teams. And we're just unable to come out in the second half and sustain. So it's my job as the coach to figure how we can do that. So it's been difficult, however, we've had a rock-solid senior class that has given us a tremendous amount of leadership and there hasn't been a time during this season that any of our 43 players has folded. We've battled and we've fought and we've played hard all year long, and I'm real, real proud of that in terms of our kids.

On the direction of the program:
We continue to recruit, and I think we've got solid kids in our program right now. Once again, we've just got to find a way to win the close games. Like I said, we can go down the list. We play a very, very difficult schedule, and if you can win two or three of those games, you're right where you need to be, and unfortunately we haven't been able to do that this year. I think we've got a great group of student-athletes that can play at the highest level. And we'll come back next year and continue to fight hard and battle.