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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIPMay 27, 2017Christian BurgdorfConnor CannizzaroBill TierneyBoston, Massachusetts Maryland - 9, Denver - 8 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement and then questions for the players. COACH TIERNEY: Thank you, and as always in these situations, I want to thank our Blessed Mother for these opportunities. Win or lose, it's always a blessing, and it's always an honor to be a part of these events, especially with a group of young men like we had this year. It really makes you wake up in the morning and be thankful for the blessings I've had in my life, but these guys have been fantastic. Congratulations to Maryland. They played a great game. A real defensive battle, back and forth when we got to 8-8, I thought we had a chance. Our kids just played like warriors. Couple bad breaks here and there, you know, could have gone either way. But they played hard. They were a good team, and thankful to have been a part of it. Q. Christian, the amount of defense you guys had to play on the extended stretches, how difficult was it when they tried to wear you down a little bit there in this particular game? CHRISTIAN BURGDORF: Obviously Maryland did a great job getting possessions all day. Their wing play was awesome, their face-off guys battled throughout the whole day. But I feel like definitely in the beginning, we tried to give Alex Ready the best opportunity each time. Q. Connor, did you get a look at that last play? How good did you guys feel coming out with a minute or so left coming out of that timeout? CONNOR CANNIZZARO: Yeah, we always feel confident when we have the ball in our offensive end. Coach Brown drew up a great play, and they just came out and got in our passing lane so we didn't have a look there. We had a chance at the end. Obviously, the call didn't go our way, but that's what happens sometimes in sports. Q. Connor, may I ask about your match-up with Muller and what you thought about him, and how the defense overall today played against you? CONNOR CANNIZZARO: Yeah, they had a good defensive scheme. They came out and pressed all over the field. So they disrupted our motion and ball movement just getting set up on the offense. When they started out, that kind of threw us off in the first half. But we figured it out and started playing better, started going back to basics in the second half, and we really started to get looks. I just wish we figured it out sooner. Q. Connor, the amount of patience you guys had to have on offense, given everything else that was happening, how happy were you with the opportunities you were able to generate over the course of this thing? CONNOR CANNIZZARO: I thought we generated some good offensive opportunities. Personally I wish I could have added a couple shots back here and there. And obviously our whole offense probably wishes we could have shot a little better today, just changed the planes. Because we were getting our looks, and credit the goalie, he was making some saves. But, obviously, we're going to go back and look at what we could have done better, and that's just the way it goes. Q. Christian, can you talk about what you guys were able to do defensively against Matt Rambo to hold him to one goal and one assist? CHRISTIAN BURGDORF: I thought Dylan Gaines did a great job matching defensively. They're both pretty big guys, so it's a heavyweight battle between the two. I thought Coach Orsen did a great job of choosing Dylan Gaines for the match-up, just playing physical with them and kind of dictating the defense throughout all four quarters (indiscernible). Q. For either of you guys, I know it's tough to reach the end of a ride like this. But what are kind of your initial reflections on how much you guys are able to accomplish? CHRISTIAN BURGDORF: One of the things we talked about in the locker room is before we came into today's game, was to think back in the four years we had at Denver, and the three Final Fours and National Championships, obviously. But the great people we've met on the way, and the lessons we've learned and developing as young men throughout the last year. Obviously, it's a hell of an experience, and something I wouldn't trade for. Q. Connor, do you have anything? CONNOR CANNIZZARO: He basically summed up everything. It's just been an amazing three years for me. Denver took me in as one of their own, and I can't thank them enough for doing that. Q. Coach Tierney, what do they do with the face-off to kind of negate the usual advantage that Trevor gives you there? COACH TIERNEY: I've been in enough of these to know to not comment when I have something negative to say. So I'll have to pass on that one. Let's just say it wasn't -- let's move on. Q. Maybe you'll give me the same answer on this one, but what did you see on that last shot with 10, 9 seconds to go or so? COACH TIERNEY: It's hard to say. It will show up in the replay. You know, who knows. Who knows. Connor made a great effort. Honestly, we need a shot clock in this game, and we need to let the dive be back in the game. They've taken away the two greatest parts of the game. It's silly. It's silly to see a kid make an effort. And their guy too, by the way, seconds before that. I'm not just saying our guy. To see young men work as hard as they do and make that kind of athletic effort and have some guy in stripes say, no, no, no. And it wasn't his fault. We'll see if he landed in the crease, then it was the right call. If he didn't, it was the wrong call. But I just think our game is kind of silly right now without those two rules. Q. Coach, obviously the results didn't go your way, but Sean Mayle returned to practice yesterday, and played today. What was your reaction to Mayle? COACH TIERNEY: You know, Sean goes back to when we lost to Marquette a few weeks ago and just got hurt doing stupid drilling on a Monday, and it meant nothing. He needed to rest his knee. Our trainers and doctors did an amazing job with him. Josie White, our trainer, is just phenomenal. Got him back and he was full tilt, ready to go. Obviously a little rusty. Hadn't played as much, but I thought Sean did a great job. We need Sean out there. He's an emotional leader, and he's someone who cares so much. Everybody rallies around him, so it was great to have him out there. Made a couple of really good plays off the wings. Credit to their wings, too. We think Danny Logan and Sean Mayle are very, very good, and their guys were very, very good. You know, John Orsen, my defensive assistant, said in the locker room, you know, it was a great college Lacrosse game. And you know, a long time ago my dad told me don't play sports if you think you're going to win every time. Somebody's going to win, somebody's going to lose, and that was a great, great game from two great teams, and it shouldn't be diminished by picking on any one thing. We're proud of our kids. We're proud of our fans. We're proud of our school. For me it becomes another one down, kind of, and it's getting close. So I want to make sure that our kids are given the best, and I think they are with the coaching staff I have around me. Q. I'm not second-guessing you, but you got so much out of your third midfield today. Was there a thought on that final possession? COACH TIERNEY: Yeah, it was kind of a mix. We were up-and-down with it. Those guys do a great job. They're part of our team. Look, when Matt Brown throws up offenses and his team, his guys score 20 goals. I don't walk in and take the credit. I know better than that. Matt drew up a great play. To Maryland's credit, they defended it, and Connor had to make a great individual effort. Would have, could have, should have. But Nate Marano was having a good day. We felt like we couldn't get the match-up. They did a cool thing, smart thing in putting the pole on Connor Donahue, and it kind of threw us off. They pressed out a little bit. Threw us off a little bit. But I'm not second-guessing Matt Brown. The ball was in the back of the net. We'll see if he landed in the crease or not. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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