Creighton University Athletics
Creighton-UIC Quotes
12/1/2007 11:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Illinois-Chicago head coach John Trask opening statement
“I thought the better team won the game. I thought we outplayed them for long periods. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Creighton soccer and coach Warming, his staff and team and obviously to bring a team into the best, and it's not even close, the best soccer stadium in the country is a privilege. This is what NCAA soccer is all about and as I've said many times before, I have a very good soccer team.”
On pushing players forward midway through the second half
“That was our tactic. We felt after two games in a week and traveling here yesterday, we thought we would slow the game down in the first half and look to take it over in possession and that's exactly what happened if you look at the game. We had a game-plan, we stuck to it, the guys were brilliant, and as you see they had one shot on goal. We have a great defense and an unbelievable goalkeeper (Jovan Bubonja). He's the best in the country, without a doubt.”
On his team's offensive philosophy
“We don't get in a running game with people. We slow the game down and play our type of soccer. It's usually the 25th to 30th minute that we start picking teams apart after we've passed that initial surge of adrenaline from a team.”
Midfielder Ian Sarachan on scoring the game's only goal
“Coming up I could tell they didn't communicate on that whole play. The goalie (Matt Allen) was going to punch it and the defender (Seth Sinovic) was going to head it at the same time and sometimes it's just about being in the right spot at the right time. It just happened to go off his (Sinovic) head instead of his (Allen) fist and went right to me. It's one of the easier one's I'll score but they all count.”
Creighton head coach Bob Warming opening statement
“I'm obviously very disappointed. The boys need to be judged on their body of work for the year, I think, and what they've done. Tonight we weren't sharp, we weren't as good as we had been. Overall I hope people will look back at the whole year and what a great job they (the team) did.”
On Illinois-Chicago's style of play
“We tried to keep an up-tempo game. They try to slow the tempo down, that's the way they want to play. They get 11 guys back like that and they're very organized. They're very unusual for college soccer. That's the reason they've given up one goal now in the last eight games. They had the lowest goals against average in the country last year. I don't enjoy the tempo, I don't like it, I don't think it's entertaining for the fans, I don't think it's the way we'd ever play but it's been effective and it's worked for them and we wish them the best.”
On top goal scorer Thomas Gjoesund sitting most of the second half
“We didn't think he'd play at all tonight. He threw up all day yesterday and was sick in the bed. We got him on IV's and everything else to see if he could play, he tried and couldn't do it. Jeremy (Wittig) had some relapses from his concussion about 15 minutes in. You take two important guys who are great energy players for us and they're out of the lineup, it's tough when you want to play up-tempo. I thought Tony Schmitz gave us a lot of energy when he came in, but it took Tony away from his other role when we had to drop him back in the midfield.”
Goalkeeper Matt Allen on Illinois-Chicago's goal
“It was just a miscommunication between the two of us. I don't think that really was the changing factor in the game. I think it was throughout the whole entire game. We played well in some points and other points we didn't. I think that was another mistake we made.”
