Nov. 7, 2008
Purdue Goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch
“Our second half was a lot better than our first. We came out with a lot more energy in the second half, where in the first we kind of sat back on our heels waiting for something to happen. We had our opportunities but we didn’t take advantage of them.”
“I think weather had an effect today. No one likes to play in the cold. Our toes were numb, our hands were numb and we couldn’t really feel much of anything, but you have to play through it.”
Purdue Head Coach Rob Klatte
“We had a very mediocre performance. I think Minnesota didn’t do what they wanted to do and they could have put us away but they left us in the game, which made the last 15 minutes pretty exciting. We didn’t have a good performance today. We struggled with their pressure and it took us a long time to try to solve that but I think it got better in the second half. We just weren’t dangerous today and I think that’s kudos to a very talented Minnesota team.”
“I think the wind assisted a lot of plays, including their goal. I think it also assisted us in the second half, giving us opportunities and helping us break some of that pressure. It numbed feet and hands certainly, although that was something both teams had to deal with. We have a lot of kids from the Midwest so this isn’t a big surprise for them. “
Minnesota Midfielder Clare Grimwood
“Games back-to-back are always really hard to do, in terms of recovery, but we have a really deep team. We are able to bring people off the bench and it ends up being a great release for all the starters. Because of that, it ends up being a real team effort and today was a hard fought battle all the way through.”
“Whoever we play (Michigan or Michigan State), it will be sweet, sweet revenge. We have a lot of bad juju about those games (this season). It’s the championship game, so we have nothing to lose. It’s go big or go home.”
Minnesota Head Coach Mikki Denny Wright
“I think we played really good soccer, especially in the first half, trying to knock the ball around and do the things we wanted to do. I was disappointed that we didn’t finish another chance. It could have been added pressure, but I thought we played well today.
“(Scoring early) really put the momentum in our hands because it’s always hard to chase a game like Purdue had to today. After we scored that goal, we knew they would come at us in the second half and they certainly did that in the last two minutes. We knew it would be a tough game and it was.”