Q&A with Shannon Foley
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Q: You just finished a tough and competitive tournament in Santa Clara. As a native Californian, what was it like to play out on the West Coast again?
SF: It was great. I got to see a lot of friends and family, and I got a chance to play against one of my best friends who goes to Stanford. It’s always nice to play out there, because it feels like home.
Q: Last year, you were out for a year with a knee injury. How tough was that?
SF: It was definitely difficult, but it was a great learning experience. Being out that long really taught me a lot of things about myself and appreciate all that I have been given.
Q: What was the hardest part, watching the team play from the sidelines, or the demanding physical therapy?
SF: It was both. Sitting out and watching the team play, and knowing that I couldn’t be a part of it, was something that I had never experienced before, so that was difficult. With rehab, I pretty much had to start from scratch. I literally had to learn how to re-kick a soccer ball. We spent an entire practice on just that: learning how to approach a soccer ball. So that was humbling.
Q: How quickly did everything start to come back to you?
SF: Some things came back quickly; others didn’t. I also had to pick up the things that I had always needed to work on. I couldn’t just focus on the things that I had always been good at.
Q: While you were injured and watching from the sidelines, were there any mental aspects of the game that you picked up on that have been able to help you now that you are back on the field again?
SF: I definitely noticed that I wasn’t playing as simply as I could beso this year I’ve tried to work on making my game more simple and being smarter with all my decisions.
Q: With one assist on the season, you are now two assists shy of the career assists record, and you already hold the career game-winning assists record. What do these mean to you?
SF: They’re great and nice to have, but I try not to think about them. They’re important to me, but not as important as the team and doing well.
Q: This weekend, the team will play its fourth and fifth consecutive games against ranked opponents. Does that difficulty of schedule help the team later down the road?
SF: I definitely think so. We have to go out for every game hard, and apply the lessons we learn from the past games to the harder games. When it comes time for the NCAA Tournament, we’ll be more mentally prepared. I think that when we play a soft schedule, we don’t know what to expect, and we don’t know that much about our opponents, whether we can hack it. This harder schedule will give a better sense of our potential and what we can do. I think we’ll do really well.
Q: The team will host Colorado and Arizona this weekend, two more West Coast teams. What are your thoughts about these games?
SF: I’m really excited. I’ve played against a lot of the girls in high school and club. My dad’s alma mater is Colorado, so I am really excited that he will be there. I hope we win!
Q: Is there added pressure playing Dad’s alma mater?
SF: Not really. The pressure is more in that we need to win these games, especially since it’s our tournament. But, I would like to rub winning it in his face!