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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

May 26, 2019

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, gentlemen. Congratulations. We have now with us the Yale Bulldogs head coach Andy Shay, along with Brian Tevlin, TD Ierlan and Jackson Morrill. Coach, opening statement, and then we will open it up for questions.

ANDY SHAY: We are excited to be playing one more day. We know our opponent is incredibly talented and well coached. It's going to be a huge challenge. We're going to try to enjoy it one more day, play as hard as we can and see what happens.

Q. Andy, I know you said one of the keys was using TD as a weapon and not a crutch. How do you think you've evolved into using him more as a weapon and less as a crutch?
ANDY SHAY: I think it's obvious that at least yesterday we were able to do that. I think that for us, that has nothing to do with me or TD as much as it does with the entire team understanding how that works. I give our guys a lot of credit. They could have ignored that comment, but they've been great. The offense was incredibly efficient and the defense was as efficient as they needed to be against an incredible opponent. That's the way it's been for the last month. The guys have been really understanding that's the case.

Q. Jackson, what's it like being able to play with that kind of possession advantage? How have you guys been able to grow more comfortable with that and also grow more efficient with that over the course of the season?
JACKSON MORRILL: Yeah, I think it's definitely been nice this year to have TD come in and do so well, but as Coach mentioned, I think the Penn games were pretty important for us. He still did very well, but it was certainly a tougher match-up for him.

I think that's something that helped our offense learn that even if we're only getting 50/50, we still need to play just as well, and we still need to try and hit our metrics and I think that's something that helped us. I think getting through those games was very good for us, and obviously when he goes in the 70, 80%, we're ready for that, and hopefully it will be the same way on Monday, but if not I think we're ready for sort of any game.

Q. Jackson and Brian, I talked to Lucas after the Penn win on Sunday, and he said one of the big reasons you guys got here was because of the NCAA Tournament experience. Do you agree with that statement?
BRIAN TEVLIN: I would say so, a little bit. Obviously we're just going out there and trying to do our thing every day. We kind of get out there and try to focus on our process and try to focus on doing our jobs each and every day, and especially on the offensive end. We get out there and try to put up as many goals as we need to to help our defense out, help TD out and help Starr out, not put so much pressure on them, so I think we try to do our thing each and every day.

JACKSON MORRILL: I think the playoff experience is something that helps, but as Brian was saying, when we're in the game, I don't think anyone is really thinking much about what we've done, for me, the last two years in the playoffs or in the Ivy League playoffs. We really do take it one possession at a time, one play at a time, and I think that's something that helps us and carries us through all the good and bad moments, I guess.

Q. Coach, could you talk about your history with Lars.
ANDY SHAY: Yeah, I mean, we've been -- we grew up in the same area, and we were rivals in the Ivy League for a long time. The Brown and Yale rivalry is something that I think both teams, both programs, take pretty seriously. You know, I know a great deal about his style of coaching, his style of teams. That's on one hand. On the other hand, you've got one day to impart that upon your guys.

I think they're playing a little bit differently than when he was at Brown, but still, you know, very dangerous, quick strike when they need to be, so it's going to be a challenge.

Q. Coach, I know second time around is sometimes easier. Have you found anything more challenging this time, maybe fighting complacency, the position of being an underdog against Penn State, how were you able to motivate your boys this year?
ANDY SHAY: I think we like being the underdog. I think if we look at the history of our program and how we've progressed over the years, we've spent a lot of years where people didn't think we were good enough to compete in certain games.

So rekindling that underdog mentality was good to have. We're going to treat this the same way. These guys are incredibly talented, they're an ACC team, they are a higher seeded than us. We feel like we are squarely the underdog against them for sure.

Q. TD, you've had the opportunity to take face-offs on grass the last two games. Is there anything different between that and the artificial surface?
TD IERLAN: No, not really. At the end of the day you've got to stick true to your fundamentals and my wings have been tearing it up since it's been on grass, so maybe we should play on grass all the time.

Q. I feel bad for TD, because this will be his second question out of this entire day, but Petey LaSalla, another faux you have to face as a freshman, what have you seen from early video that may be a challenge perhaps to you?
TD IERLAN: Yeah, he's -- I mean, at this level all the FOGO are really good and he's no exception. His reaction time is very good, he's very well schooled, Long Island guy. He's solid. We're going to have our work cut out for us. Their wings are very talented, so we're going to have to bring it.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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