Postgame Quotes
December 15, 2002 | Men's Soccer
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UCLA Quotes
Coach Tom Fitzgerald
(on game)
"It was not the prettiest game these guys have ever played. But I told them, if it's going to be ugly we need to win. It was just a great gutsy performance by a great group of guys. I'm extremely happy for the seniors."
"I think fatigue was a factor with both teams. I know these guys are very fit. It only takes one little mistake and the whole game will change."
(on championship)
"It's kind of surreal. You never think it can happen, but there's the trophy sitting there, so I guess it did. It's an incredible experience to win a championship. You never know what's going to happen in life. I got fired (from Columbus) and didn't know if I was going to coach again. But Betsy (Stephenson) called and changed my life. I'm happy to be here and plan on being around a long time."
Zach Wells
(on game)
"Every time we played these guys this year, they have been a very organized team. We have three brilliant marking backs. Stanford has four very good backs as well. They didn't make many defensive mistakes and neither did we."
Aaron Lopez
(on defense)
"The three backs do a wonderful job of stopping the forwards of the other team. Stanford has very good forwards. It's a whole team effort to defeat Stanford."
(on goal)
"I just made my run and the ball was there. Luckily, I got my foot on it and it went in."
Ryan Futagaki
(on assist)
"In our set pieces, our main objective is not to hit it high, because they are so dominant in the air. I tried to play it waist high and fortunately Aaron was there."
Stanford Quotes
Coach Bret Simon
"I want to congratulate UCLA. They are a very deserving champion."
(on the play of Stanford)
"I'm very pleased with the way our team played today. They played like champions."
"As been in games against UCLA this year, we had chances to win that disappeared in a blink of the eye."
(on the defensive battle against UCLA)
"I think both teams played conservatively. In the second half, they put more defensive players on the field and kept us bottled up."
"Their defenders didn't give any ground and they were a tough group to penetrate."
"Even though they bent today, they never broke. That is to their credit"
Todd Dunivant
(on the difference today)
"From my perspective, they were just able to make the big play when they needed to. That was the difference."
"Both teams had opportunities, they just made the big plays when they needed to."
Abe Geiger
(on low scoring favoring UCLA)
"I don't think that had anything to do with it. It was a battle out there. We had confidence we could win the game. It just didn't work out today."