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#UNC women's soccer coach Damon Nahas after exhibition win over South Carolina
Aug 6, 2026
#UNC women's soccer coach Damon Nahas after exhibition win over South Carolina
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ACC is a very competitive and tough
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conference,
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but going into the non-conference and
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the league, how are you planning on
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using those games to compete against our
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competitors in the ACC like Stanford and
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Duke?
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>> Yeah. Um
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yeah, obviously there's no
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uh surprise that the ACC is, you know,
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is pretty heavy in regards to the
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talent.
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Um but we we schedule a pretty tough
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non-conference. I'd say we have the
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toughest schedule in the country if you
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look at it from the top to bottom.
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ACC schedule is not all equal. You don't
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play everyone, so you have
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uh the the quality [music] of teams
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across the board in the ACC in talent,
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but you know, we have some really,
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really talented teams. Even the
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mid-majors are really talented teams, so
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um we schedule those for reasons to
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prepare and you never know how it's
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going to go, especially with a young
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team. So, for us it's about the opponent
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that we schedule and they present
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different challenges, which is going to
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help us, you know, go into the season.
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None of those games are guaranteed
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anyway, so we don't assume any of those
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games. We have, you know, Fairfield and
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Quinnipiac like all those teams have
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been successful in their own right. And
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then you have the likes of Arkansas and
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Michigan State who are top, you know, 10
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teams consistently. So, um
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>> [music]
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>> we're uh we're ready. We we know that
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we're going to have a battle every day,
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especially with a young team, so um
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yeah, we [music] we embrace it. We know
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it's going to be a challenge, but I know
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that the group will be excited for it.
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>> Hey, Damon, big picture obviously last
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season didn't go go the way that you
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wanted and then you lose a lot of
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players including including the top
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three [music] scores, but you bring in a
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lot of people. What are the challenges
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with the
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shuffling of the roster and what you
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lost and what you brought in?
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>> Yeah, I mean every year that you have, I
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mean, disappointment can be uh looked at
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in all different ways. From the outside
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you can see it as a disappointment, but
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uh where we started in the seasons where
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we ended last year was pretty
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significant. I mean,
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you know, we [music] were 4 seconds away
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from moving on to the Elite Eight, so
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most people would like to be in that
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situation. So, [music] as disappointing
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that is, uh we have to take uh look at
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those opportunities as what they are and
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and I'm I'm prepared for for next
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season. And we have that with a new
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group. Every [music] year it's going to
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be like this now, to be honest with you,
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because of the way the landscape is.
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Uh we have some great young players that
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are here with the core that came back
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last year. So,
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for us there's just no excuses. It's
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about trying to get the young ones ready
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as quick as possible, uh which is really
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important
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to get up to speed. And that's why the
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trainings are so important. And then you
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throw them out there and you and you you
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hope that they learn on the fly and then
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[music] hopefully you don't get exposed
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in in moments when they're struggling.
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Um but that's kind of the landscape and
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no excuses. We embrace playing the young
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players. [music]
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So does everybody on the roster that was
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here last year. So, we have a lot of
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optimism, but we got to earn it on a
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daily basis.
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>> And your two two newcomers teamed up on
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the goal there.
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>> Say that again?
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>> Two newcomers teamed up on the goal
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there.
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>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, Amari is
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you can see the talent that she [music]
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has and you know, once she kind of gets
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her legs under her, you know, we won't
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have Amari and we won't have Juice for
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the first three games of the season
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because of the U-17 National Team called
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a camp. So, we lose them for the first
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three, which is tough. And if they make
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[music] the World Cup, we'll lose them
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for the last six games.
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Um we know there's a lot of things that
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we have some challenges with that that's
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why the depth of the roster is so
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important. But yeah, Amari was brave to
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go down there. She She put a defender in
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a in a difficult situation [music]
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where she's either going to go isolated
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1v1 and maybe create a foul
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or, [music]
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you know, instinctually some of our best
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instinct role players in the box and she
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arrives at the right time and you know,
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it's a great goal to finish it off.
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>> And what is that competition they're
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playing in?
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>> Uh it's U-17 National Team.
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>> For the US?
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>> Yes. So, so that's a camp that they're
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having in preparation for the World Cup
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later in the season.
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>> How do you expect players that are
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returning like Hope Carballo to step up
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into
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like leadership roles, especially with
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such a new young team?
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>> Yeah.
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Yeah, I don't I don't think you really
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talk about it. I think you either have
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that in you or you don't. And those two
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definitely have it in them. So, I think
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if you
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you try and make someone be that Um,
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without it being natural to
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then ultimately it's for us. They
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naturally are
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um competitors, they want to win, and
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they know that they can't do it alone,
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so you have to be able to off the field
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really connect, and I think [music] the
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last 2 weeks has given us an opportunity
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to really connect as a group. And the
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two players you just mentioned have kind
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of been innate in them where they want
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everyone to kind of have success.
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Uh and so far they've done a really good
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job with that.
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>> What would you like tonight? [music] Uh
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they That's a physical team it seemed
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like.
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>> Yeah, I mean look, South Carolina is a
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prominent top 10 top 20 team throughout,
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[music]
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you know, their history, and Shelley and
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her staff do an amazing job. So,
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um they caused some, you know, they they
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forced you to be patient um at times cuz
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some, you know, our
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>> [music]
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>> our players sometimes can be fairly
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impatient um not in a negative way, but
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sometimes they just want to go.
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Uh but when a team's really organized,
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you have to be patient cuz then you're
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vulnerable for counterattacks.
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Um so, yeah, they they hurt us in
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transition a bunch and in different
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moments, which was a really good
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challenge for us, but um that was a
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really good uh exhibition game probably
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for them, too, and to set them up for
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the season. Um so, we appreciate them
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traveling here. Uh that's going to pay
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off for us in the next week, but we have
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to make sure that we look at these
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things and make sure we don't get
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ourselves in in situa- clean up some
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things to help us prepare for our next
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Wednesday.
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>> Well, one of the big uh
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additions you had, you have a Hermann
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Trophy candidate from Georgia. Um that
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mean that was a big addition. Can you
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talk about what she brings to the team?
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>> Yeah, I mean Summer is just what she
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does, she scores goals. Uh she's got a
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nose for the goal.
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Um she's got many areas that she knows
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she wants to improve, and I think that's
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one of the reasons why she's here as
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well. But the one thing you just can't
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teach is someone's instincts around the
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box, and that goal is a really good
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example. Her timing and arrival in that
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spot uh was perfect. Where some would
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have made the run too early, which would
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have brought a defender, she was really,
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really diligent about when and when when
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not to, and and the result was just a
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quality serve, and then obviously just
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in the right spot, right time. So, she
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brings that experience and and uh desire
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in the box for us.
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>> One last question, what's the thing that
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you think of will take away from today
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moving on to the game next week?
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>> Yeah, it's it's um
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I don't know if there's just one thing
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to be honest with you. I think anytime
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you go into a situation, it's always
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easier when you leave a a game when
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there's a there's a a positive and a
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victory, right? We could have Did we
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have a lot of the ball and did we have a
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lot of the opportunities? Yeah, sure. Um
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did some of the opportunities waste ball
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and decision-making? Yeah, do I think
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they should have been more more patient?
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Yes, but I what I what I think is that
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we weren't a lack of
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uh trying to do the right things. We
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were a yard off, you know, weren't wide
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enough at times. Like those are things
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that our video will help us with. Um I
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think all of them put a really good
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effort in and ultimately as we talk
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about all the time, performance makes a
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difference, you know. Silly didn't come
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in until the last 7 minutes of the first
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half and her impact in 7 minutes was
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extraordinary. So, what did that do? She
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earned the right to start and she played
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that entire half. So, all those things
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what you do is the games provide
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opportunities for them to realize if you
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perform, you get opportunity. And Silly
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was a really good example of that. Amari
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was another good example. When her
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opportunity came,
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your job is to create opportunities and
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she did that. So, and that's just two um
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you know, players to to give uh you
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know, praise to, but there's more more
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positives than negatives in today's game
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for sure and we'll see more of that on
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the film.
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>> You played two goalies tonight. Do you
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What's your plan for once the regular
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season starts?
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>> that double time will tell, right? I
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mean, just kind of giving the girls some
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different, you know, opportunities gives
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us a different pictures or otherwise in
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training you're limited to what you can
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see sometimes.
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Um so, yeah, we have our you know, from
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one to four of our goalkeepers come
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every day with an amazing attitude and
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and ultimately they're pushing each
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other to kind of get to a different
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level. So, yeah, we don't we don't know.
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We haven't made that decision yet. We
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just want to uh make sure that we're
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getting better on a daily basis and I'll
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make that decision when we get closer to
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Wednesday.
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>> What
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>> Thank you.
7:37
>> Thank you.
7:38
>> Appreciate it.
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