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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIPSMay 24, 2015Cole BaileyMike DalyConor HelfrichJohn UppgrenPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Tufts – 19 THE MODERATOR: We're joined coach Mike Daly, John John, Cole Barrett and Conor Helfrich. Coach, an opening statement. COACH DALY: Opening statement is real brief. Just so proud of this team. These are a pretty special group of guys that I get to work with every day. You know, pretty proud at 4‑0. We didn't need a timeout. We were nervous. But we didn't need a timeout. And these guys, as they have all year long, they just take strain and they just keep grinding and obviously we went on a pretty nice run from that point on. But just so much respect for these guys and how tough they are and pretty proud to be sitting here. Thank you. Q. For the three of you, can you talk about the mentality, the thought process to get back after being down early? CONOR HELFRICH: For me, win the next face‑off, give these guys the ball and I know they'll do good things with it. For me, win the next face‑off, the next ground ball, the next play. JOHN UPPGREN: Yeah, it's the whole team mentality is just win the next 50/50 ground ball, make the next pass, score the next goal. There was no panic. We've been in that situation before. So it's just win the next one. COLE BAILEY: They said it perfectly. Just don't get stressed out. Just stick to how Tufts lacrosse plays the game. It's actually fun. I think we were in a situation like that last year, I think down 5‑1 or something like that. So we've been there before. Just calm down, so, yeah, just win the next GB, score the next goal. Q. Comment on how having the experience over the last year helped you prepare for today? COLE BAILEY: Definitely. I think the biggest thing or the easiest thing to do is for the team to just look ahead. There's so much going on ‑‑ just kind of forget why we're here, but the real reason we're here is for that game, to win that game. We knew the chaos that came with this weekend. Obviously we enjoyed it. We soaked it all in. But we made sure the guys were focused on this game, and made sure we took care of business today. And we did. So proud of these guys. CONOR HELFRICH: I think anytime you can play with confidence, it helps. Looking back at last year, we had a couple of face‑off violations, I did just jumping the whistle early. This year didn't have any. So I think just being a little more calm out there, knowing what the stage is and just playing with confidence anytime you can do that, it helps. JOHN UPPGREN: Yeah, it helped take the distractions away, like Cole said. Being here already last year really helped us just focus on our opponent and just focus on ourselves and make sure everything was locked coming in to today. Q. Comment on winning back to back? COLE BAILEY: It's special, it's unreal. I can't even describe the feeling right now, but it speaks volume about this programs, Coach Daly and the rest of the coaching staff, the alumni and the support we have. Without them none of this is possible. Just a great group of guys. I've grown so much being around them for four years speaks volume for this program. JOHN UPPGREN: Just to build on that, it really just shows what our senior class the last two years and the alumni that have come before that have really done for this program, where they've set the standards for us. And Coach Daly does a great job reminding us of that every year. It's our job to work hard and keep building on that standard. So it means a lot. CONOR HELFRICH: Same as John. A lot of guys who came before us set that standard, and we have to live up to that every day and just do our best every day to get better, work hard, and I just think it's a testament to all the guys who came before us, all our coaches and just all the great people that we're so lucky to have in our program. Q. John, talk about the goal over your right shoulder, walk me through that play. JOHN UPPGREN: So there's a flag on the ground, and I believe I just tried to drive up to the island and I got my momentum stuck a little bit, and, yeah, just shot it over my shoulder. Actually, earlier in the game I tried an over‑the‑shoulder shot and missed by like about five yards. I think it actually went parallel to the net. But Coach Daly just lets us play, which is awesome. So we have the freedom to do what we want to do out there, be creative. I just went for it. Kind of a free shot. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. 4‑0, you call timeout. Were you thinking about calling a timeout when they went down early? COACH DALY: Yeah, when you work with 18‑ to 22‑year‑olds, you don't know anything. So you don't look at know or understand at any point. So we're looking for the right opportunity at that point. We really like to use them to save a possession or use them to protect our defense at that point. And in both instances we didn't really feel the defense needed protection. We needed to win and maintain a few of those face‑off wins. We were getting face‑off wins early, but then we'd turn it over a little bit. And we didn't take care of the ball earlier in that 4‑0 run and we didn't stop the ball in one of those transitions and had some nice early goals. And we just felt like as soon as we settled down and started doing things fundamentally we were going to have success. So there's never any‑‑ 19‑11, I'm not feeling good and I don't know anything still at that point. Q. Comment on the energy level and being able to challenge. COACH DALY: I mean, clearly respect for Lynchburg and everything they've accomplished this year and who they beat to get here. The gritty, as seen in their semifinal game, being down 9‑2 in the third, we knew‑‑ that's all we were talking about in that second half was how much energy they played with, how much ability they had to come back. And so we were, as I said, even at 19‑11, we were nervous. So in terms of sustaining that the whole game, you know, certainly we wanted and needed to go on our run and to get our energy going and kind of raise to that level a little bit. And we did. And I'm pretty proud of those guys and their grit to dig out of that hole. That's a pretty big hole against a real good team that can score. So I thought our team was as tough as they needed to be. Q. Talk about how confident you are in the system and the program's success. COACH DALY: That's a loaded question. Same thing, we're confident in it. We believe in it, clearly. I'm sure there's times when I go back over this film and the third and fourth quarter when I'm sure everybody dressed in Tufts blue up there wanted us to hold it, wanted us to get timers on, wanted us to pull it out, and we're still shooting, we're still firing. So clearly we believe in it, and confidence as I said is a very tenuous thing in my job. So we believe in the guys for sure. And thankfully they reward us on a daily basis. Q. Talk about last year and what it means to win two in a row. COACH DALY: It's a challenge. I'll be honest. You remove one guy from the mix, it changes everything. So we lost that group of seniors last year who just carried us down the stretch. And so each year is different. And I was struggling midseason, not sleeping, and a ton of stress. And I just knew we had a great group of guys and a ton of talent. And my wife, who is here, was behind me and worried about me and coddling like my eight‑year‑old and my ten‑year‑old, she was worried about me. But we knew we had a great, talented group. And through the middle part of our season, I just thought we weren't maximizing our potential. And that really bothers me. So to repeat, yeah, sure, that's great. But I thought we had a great potential this year, and that's more of my job than winning, I think, at this point. It's maximizing our potential, maximizing these guys' potential. And they just took everything I gave them. It's not sunshine and smiles all the time over at Tufts. So I promise you, we got after those guys and they responded, as I said. I keep using that word "tough," these guys are tough and they're resilient and it's a privilege to do what I do. Q. Comment on what changed midseason. COACH DALY: I think what upset me the middle part of the season was we were relying on talent and not what, as you heard the players talk about, the work ethic and the toughness and the things that just built this program and the alums that built this program with just sheer out just being tougher than our opponents. So that was what was real frustrating for me. We had to wake the guys up a little bit and make sure they knew exactly why they have everything that they have and who the heck they're representing when they step on the field. Q. Comment on the sustained success despite the fact that you had some staff turnover. COACH DALY: Yeah, that's a pretty wide‑angled question. I think just as we ask our players to do, we just show up every day and take whatever comes our way and put the work in and put the toughness in and so we have had some coaches take some great opportunities that they've earned and that we're certainly happy for them. But I think it's a great reflection of our program, how we've built this program, and more importantly how we held it accountable to allow us to sustain changes in senior classes and certainly as rock solid of guys as Sean Kirwan and Brett Holm to move on, and then just so lucky for Matt Callahan and Chris Schoenhut, both alums, as well to step in and take over. And then guys like Coach Harris and Coach Rynne and Coach Carr who just leave the place cleaner than they found it every day. So I'm a lucky guy. Q. Comment on the dominance in the face‑offs. COACH DALY: I think the face‑off phase is certainly an area where talent is important, but more important than any other phase in that game I think just toughness and digging out ground balls and they were moving multiple long sticks up on to that phase to try to control it. And we just got some really gritty plays from Conor Helfrich and Jake Gillespie and Charlie Rubin and Jeffrey Chang and Tyler Carbone on those wings. And as I said a pretty great reflection on our team, that phase. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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