Aug 26, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Opening Statement Head Coach Charlene Morett: It's hard to believe this is my 27th season, but I'm obviously very excited about this season. We just had an outstanding preseason where the players worked very hard every day. How tired their legs were everyday is a testament to how hard they worked. We did have an opening scrimmage against Maryland last Friday. We had a good start to the game, a strong first half. Then we fatigued a little bit in the second half, but we learned a lot from that scrimmage and are looking forward to taking what we learned from the game and putting it into practice this week so we can prepare for Old Dominion on Friday.
We have a strong group of seniors who lead this class, Natalie Buttinger being one of them. Our captains are Brittany Grzywacz, Whitney Reddig and Laura Gebhart, a junior. Laura spent her summer in Germany with the U.S. U-21 team and she was the captain of that team, so she brings a lot of experience with her onto the team this fall. I am really excited about this season and just the leadership we continue to get from our senior class.
Q: Can you expand a little bit more about Laura's experience in Europe this summer and what that brings to the rest of the team
Coach Morett: Laura was named to the U.S. Senior squad this past spring through a tournament tryout. I think Laura putting herself in a position to be a leader on the U.S. U-21 team will help transition into Laura becoming a leader for us this year. Laura obviously knows the game and what we need to do is to work with Laura not to do too much, but she keeps good energy on the field and is extremely supportive of her teammates.
Natalie Buttinger: Even coming back to training this pre-season you could tell she was bringing back a different element because we were working out all summer, but she was training with a higher level team. And when she came back from training all summer it was evident she was prepared and ready to transfer and get right into it and challenge her teammates, but always with a positive spin.
Q: You have a lot of experience coming back this year and a real strong season last year, so how high are expectations for this season?
Coach Morett: Honestly its one game at a time, because the personnel that we loss last year. We lost a significant scorer and a strong midfield back in Hannah and the scorer in Kelsey. We have a new goalkeeper. Kylie Licata is replacing Ayla Halus. With those major changes we have a lot of work to do in those areas which are significant to the outcome of the game. Scoring at one end and defending and making saves at the other end. That's why I think the Maryland scrimmage was so valuable for us just to get some more experience in those areas.
Q: How can you replace Kelsey or are you going to change your offensive look or play the same thing with different players filling in?
Coach Morett: Wel,l we are very fortunate that we do have speed on our team. We have speed on the line, we have speed in the midfield and that's very fast. We have Taylor Herold and Ashtin Klingler and Amanda Dinunzio, another local girl, which those four are fast so we just need them to get a little more experience with carrying the ball down the field and putting the ball in scoring positions.
Buttinger: I also think its confidence right now because even for the younger players like Taylor and Jenr as juniors they didn't rely on Kelsey, but they learned to work with her, so just them having the confidence that they are good enough to take the ball and bring it into the circle.
Q: There are some pretty tough teams out there, and a tough schedule. What are you looking to accomplish there in those games?
Coach Morett: I'm really getting back to taking it one game at a time and seeing how we can grow from game to game. The Maryland game was very telling in how we need to do a better job of organizing ourselves defensively. I think that's going to be a big focus for us going into Old Dominion and not to look ahead because it's a very strong and challenging schedule. It gives a purpose to preseason and prepares us for conference play. I like our schedule, and the girls expect it. It's sort of been that way every year.
Buttinger: It's kind of the same opening games and we know its going to be a hard start, but it's a good start to the season and it prepares us well for the Big Ten.
Q: Having some experience back up front, how does that help your goalie then become a lot more confident, by having leadership there as well in that transition?
Coach Morett: I don't think Kylie lacks confidence, it should be reassuring to her knowing she does have Brittany Grzywacz, Abby Fuhrman, Katie Breneman and Katie Andrews on the other side back that we have right now. So I think she should have that confidence and I think what we really need from Kylie and Britt is the communication and voice to get people in the right positions and to do it with a sense of urgency. Kylie has great quickness and she really just needs to improve upon learning the situation and understanding that her defenders can help her by keeping the ball out of a scoring situation and allow her to just guard the cage.
Q: We mentioned your schedule earlier, a vast majority of your matches this year are on the road and you don't have too many at home. Is that just the way things worked out or did something happen along the way?
Coach Morett: It's just the way it worked out. Last year we did have a group of home games. We had California come here, who really hasn't been here before. They have to make an east coast swing. And then we had return games at Monmouth and at Lehigh, but we didn't really look at them coming back home this year. We picked up two new teams on the road in Miami of Ohio when we go to Indiana and also UC-Davis when we go to Iowa. Normally we try to work on getting two of those types of games at home, sometimes it's nice when you're on the road and you have a fan base travelling with you and now they have the opportunity to watch two games.
Q: Is there anybody in particular you think is going to have a breakout season that didn't receive a ton of time last year?
Coach Morett: I think Natalie Buttinger is capable of doing that. I think another player would be Amanda Dinunzio. I would say Katie Andrews and Katie Breneman; I put those two in the same group. And then you know we're talking about our entire forward line having a break out season.
Q: Natalie, when you hear your coach say that, how does it make you feel?
Buttinger: It makes me feel really good. I have worked really hard all spring and I have stayed here for most of the summer and have just been putting in some extra effort. I know that it will be beneficial and it will pay off. It makes me even more determined to keep working hard and to really make an impact on the team this season.
Coach Morett: Natalie has some great skills and quickness. She's Canadian so we need to get her meaner.
Buttinger: I know I'm working on that though.
Q: You had a really nice defense last year, with five or six shutouts and I think only one team scored more than four goals against you? Are you looking for the same thing this year?
Coach Morett: We are especially with the core of Brittany, Abby and Katie Breneman. Those three were in our deep defense. We bumped Katie Breneman up into the center back position and she's a strong marker. I think if we can have Katie focus on shutting down the other team's scorer, then I think we'll be in good shape defensively.