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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIPMay 28, 2017Jake CoonRyan LeeNick NesbittBraden WallaceBoston, Massachusetts Salisbury - 15, RIT - 7 JAKE COON: First of all, I'll certainly give Salisbury the credit they deserve. I thought they played a very good game today, very disciplined on offense, and their defense played tight all day. I give them a lot of credit. I feel for my guys. They've worked hard all year, battled all year. They battled all day today, but Salisbury made the plays today. Q. To whoever wants it, do you think there was one particular moment that was like a turning point in the game real early in the first half? Or do you think there was one point in the second half you turned the game in any way? BRADEN WALLACE: I don't think there was one particular moment. I think there was a lot of small things that were pretty backbreaking. We had a couple failed clears. There was one a couple guys thought was out of bounds and they picked it up, a couple men down, the little stuff. Wasn't one big moment, but they definitely did have the bounces going their way, but they were working hard for them. Q. Braden and Ryan, did you feel because of the small mistakes that it kind of was difficult to get into a rhythm offensively? RYAN LEE: Yeah, you could tell by the score, obviously. Yeah, our turnovers on offense, we started off the game and it seemed like a bunch. I don't know the actual stat. But those definitely killed us, and in then the second half they came in and we scored one goal in the second half, so they came out and beat us in that aspect, so yeah, the little things really crushed us. Q. Ryan, can you just talk about your matchup with No. 11? Was there anything in particular they were concentrating on to keep you from doing what you normally do? RYAN LEE: No, I don't think so. He's a good defender, and I mean, I only one scored goal, so he did his job, I guess, and he played his position well. Q. Ryan and any of the players, when you guys lost back-to-back games in March, you're still able to get to this point. You guys said you kind of reset. What does it say about this team to be able to get to this point? I know you're disappointed, but what does it say about the character of this group? BRADEN WALLACE: You know, having 15 seniors after we dropped the two games, we put a lot of the onus on the 15 seniors because what we do trickles down throughout the team, and again, I know we keep saying it, but we didn't think it was one big glaring need to change this and everything will start going our way. We started doing the little things right in practice, and our practices were definitely higher tempo, a lot more responsibility and accountability on the small stuff, running off the field, missed passes, high passes, little things after the bag things. That's what got us back on track. Q. Talk about the 15 seniors there, and I know we spoke after the semifinal win and just how much you worked to get that win and then to come here and you yourself had the 2013 loss, as well, Braden. If you guys can speak to just the emotions that went into today's game. BRADEN WALLACE: It's as emotional as a game is going to get for a college athlete, a national championship. You know, the whole week is highs and lows and doing things like autograph sessions that we've never done before. You know, stuff like that is definitely high, and I think you can really see it in the first quarter that they were a little bit more comfortable than us. They've obviously been here. They won it last year, and that's a big factor in the game. You know, I think that that's on us, and again, that's on the seniors, but them being there so many times plays a big role into how comfortable you are in the first five, ten minutes. Q. What's it mean to you, Braden, I know you've been here for five years, to be able to compete in five national championships? BRADEN WALLACE: It means a lot. It takes a lot to get there. It's not like back in the day where I think there was only three or four teams that were really competing for a championship. I think there's 15, 20 now that could win it on any given day. So it's great to get here, but at the end of the day, we got here, it's a lot to deal with, very heartbreaking. Just happy for my team at RIT. Q. Braden, you got the hidden ball trick. That worked in the second half, pulled you guys within two. Talk about that swing. That was kind of the closest you guys had it and kind of got away with some penalties in the third quarter. What did you see after the hidden ball trick? BRADEN WALLACE: You know, we kind of rolled that into half time, and at half time we talked in the locker room, and I think it was only two or three goals at the time, and we scored two goals in practice or two goals in any other day in 30 seconds, we thought that we could -- if we could put a few in early, we're right back in it. Some penalties got us down, and it's hard to score when you're a man down. NICK NESBITT: What did we have, three or four man downs in a row there, and they pretty much held the back, and we finally get the ball upfield, and there's already five minutes off the clock, five minutes gone from the game there. Really, that definitely hurt. JAKE COON: I'll speak to that. I thought our third period was terrible. Probably the difference in the game. The penalties were one part, but the glaring stat that I'm looking at is the 18 to 5 groundballs in the third period. That's the game right there. You know, you can't give an offense like that, a patient offense like that 18 groundballs in one quarter. They're going to make you pay. They did, they scored six, we scored two. Really put us in the hole, and certainly playing man down for part of the period was pretty detrimental. Q. Coach, a lot has been said about 15 seniors; can you talk about what the senior class has meant to the program and also specifically Patrick Hannigan, he wasn't in here, the defensive captain, what he's meant to the team, as well? JAKE COON: Yeah. A lot of great kids in that class. We're going to miss a lot of them. We've had a lot of ups and downs over the years. A guy like Pat Hannigan had a rough start to his career and turned it over as a young man. He's been great for us. He's been consistent. He's really stepped up as a leader this year. You know, doing the right things on and off the field. And to speak to the whole group, I can't say anything negative about these guys. They're hardworking, they put forth -- the commitment level is incredible. I think at the beginning of the season we were struggling a little bit about how to be a leader, a few of them. We were relying on Braden Wallace quite a bit. You can see he's a well-spoken young man. We were relying on him quite a bit, but a guy like Pat Hannigan, Ryan Lee, and some of the other seniors stepped up as leaders. In particular after those two losses it really changed the dynamics of the team. Q. I know you're in your eighth year at RIT. They're also in an eight-year playoff streak. What do you think you've brought to the program that has changed things up and has made the team a perennial post-season contender? JAKE COON: You know, I'm not sure. Maybe expectations. You know, I think that being a part of a few national championships before my arrival at RIT, I think the bar was just set a bit higher, and the tutelage I had under some of the coaches I worked for and played for, I think some of that discipline and work ethic is some of the stuff that I bring to the table. But I give the guys the credit. They're coachable. They listen. They work hard. I give them the credit. Q. From your perspective what did you see Salisbury do defensively to keep you off balance? JAKE COON: You know, we're very good typically off ball, and today they weren't giving us much off ball. I look at the game stats here, and out of our seven goals, only three assists, and certainly seven goals is not nearly our normal output. But again, I thought the most glaring thing with their defense today was the groundballs. Their wingmen, their post defensemen, even their short sticks, but they all came up with key groundballs throughout the whole game, but particularly in that third period. So I think that was huge. Mainly it was about possessions, and they had a lot of them. Q. Coming into this game, there was a lot of hype from this team, an excellent semifinal victory. When you saw them out there in that first quarter, how much of that did you see nerves maybe coming through a little bit with some of the small mistakes? JAKE COON: Yeah, I thought we got off to a decent start. We scored the first goal, and I thought we might relax after that and settle in, and a couple key drops, I think Chad and Braden might have had two key drops on the crease that usually they catch and finish. I don't really know what to attribute that to other than being nervous. All week we've been loose. They've been playing great. The practices have been wonderful, been in great spirits, and to come out in the first period and drop a few of those balls was definitely tough to swallow. I would say there were definitely some nerves there. Salisbury had the experience, like Braden said, and I thought they came out very poised. Q. How frustrating is it when you see those nerves and you see the offense put up 20 goals, all this whole run, a couple drops, jitters, and then Salisbury got going. Was there maybe some frustration then and started grabbing the stick a little too tight? JAKE COON: No, not really. The first half I thought we played all right. We played a lot of defense again, but we played good, solid defense against their strong offense, and again, the possessions are key, and the first half we were getting some possessions, the groundballs were a little closer, and in the second half they had the ball the majority of the time, and you're not going to win too many games and put up too many points without having the ball. Offensively they were very patient, possessed the ball well, didn't make many mistakes. I think they had 10 turnovers the whole game. We just can't have the opportunities we typically have. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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