NCAA Tournament Championship Game Quotes
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May 29, 2006
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Massachusetts Head Coach Greg Cannella
“I’d like to congratulate Virginia, they are a great champion at 17-0. Ourguys fought back and made a good run, but they are a tremendous team all overthe field.”
“They were a great team and a very consistent team all season as they weretoday.”
“They threw three guys out there on faceoffs, and they have tremendous teamspeed especially on the wings. Jake (senior faceoff/defensive midfielder JakeDeane) got tired out there since he’s been playing three guys to one today.They were able to beat him to the clamp a couple of times.”
“Offensively they are so strong that you kind of needed to hold the faceoffsdown. We weren’t able to do that, particularly early on in the game. I thoughtwe needed to have a strong game and we weren’t able to do that.”
“They are such a great shooting team, and they came out and shot the ball wellin the third quarter.”
Senior attack Sean Morris
On facing Virginia defenseman Michael Culver:
“When I was able to go at him, Iwas able to get some shots. But I wasn’t able to get the ball much and he dida great job with their entire defense.”
Senior Defense Jack Reid
“I give a lot of credit to all of our guys, everybody kept fighting out there.They have a lot of talent and they were just too much for us.”
Virginia
Head Coach Dom Stargia
“It’s a little overwhelming to hear all the statistics about our team. Thewhole undefeated thing snuk up on us, but to come in here as expected and dothis is a very special momentfor our program. I’m very proud of our guys.”
“We’ve sort of stumbled in the second quarter lately, so there was no need fora big halftime speech. I thought that we got a little careless on defense anda bit stubborn shooting the ball. But I thought our big guys like Dixon, Wardand Poskay came through and got good shots.”
“Faceoffs were very important because Deane is so tough and you can really geton a run if you win the faceoffs. It took a team effort and we did that today.”
“We played the kind of game that we are capable of playing. We won a fewfaceoffs and then got going and hit our stride. These guys stepped up whenthey had to and that’s what leadership is all about.”
“I’d hesitate to call anything I do perfect, but it’s pretty darn close to aperfect season. This is a very special moment. It’s a group of thoughtful,hard-working young men that created the impression that we all walk away withfrom the 2006 lacrosse season.”
Senior Attack Matt Ward
“When you match their run with one of your own, it kind of takes the sails outof any momentum they had.”
“The defensive guys did a great job getting the ball on the ground and helpedus get going as an offense in the second half.”
“Going 17-0 is not something anyone expected to do. Once we got rolling thisseason we really wanted to do that. It was important for us to make Virginialacrosse and the Charlottesville area proud.”
Junior goalie Kip Turner
“They were getting goals on cuts inside, and I just told our middies to getdown on the cuts and have the defense inside late in the game”