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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2019

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Virginia - 13, Yale - 9

THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Yale head coach Andy Shay and student-athletes John Daniggelis and Matt Brandau. First we will have a short statement from coach, followed by questions for our student-athletes, then we will and questions for coach.

ANDY SHAY: First of all, I got up this morning, and I had to remind myself that if you lose a lacrosse game today, it's not that big of a deal relative to people that have lost their lives for our country. This is really hard. Saying goodbye to this class and all that. But at the end of the day it's still a game, and at the end of the day I get paid to do this in this country because of people that gave their lives. So it's probably not that big of a deal, but it hurts in the moment, so I wanted to mention that on Memorial Day.

I want to congratulate Virginia on an incredible year, incredible game they played today, and I wish we'd faired better, but we will be back. That's all I got.

Q. Matt, can you talk about the ups and downs, going from winning the title last year to this?
MATT BRANDAU: Being a first-year student this year, I never experienced last year with these guys, but from day one we approached it like it was a clean slate, no pressure on us, new team, new group of guys, and all that credit is to these seniors, coaches. It was an incredible group of guys to play with, and I'm very thankful that I got to go through the ups and downs with these guys by my side.

Q. Matt, can you talk a little bit about the adjustments that you made in that first half to sort of get the offense going, and obviously you guys made that run at the end.
MATT BRANDAU: I think offensively we were stagnant in the beginning. Toward the end of the game we got a little bit more aggressive and kind of spun the ball a little bit faster and moved off ball a little bit faster.

Q. John, talk about the momentum swing to start the third quarter. You cut it to 6-4, and then they went on a 5-0 run.
JOHN DANIGGELI: Yeah, we just wanted to come out of the half and show our fight. That's what the senior class has done our entire careers, from the older guys that have weathered us throughout our entire careers have done. The seniors, unfortunately, have been on this end of it before, and we knew that we had 30 minutes to try to change the outcome and we wanted to come out strong in the second half. Unfortunately it didn't go our way, but all credit to Virginia and they played a great game today. Congratulations to them.

Q. John, can you talk about how the program has changed or what you've seen in the past four years. This is now the second consecutives finals game. When you looked at Yale, did you think that cloud happen?
JOHN DANIGGELIS: When you are getting recruited you just want to see guys that you can see yourself hopefully fulfilling their careers. What interested me from day one was the hard work and effort that the guys showed on the field. A lot of times back in the day they were huge underdogs; they didn't care, they would go head on into the challenge and I knew that's what I wanted. Fortunately throughout my career, the team has gotten better and better. Obviously this year we weren't so much underdogs, but it's nice to see that transition, and the seniors did a great job of leaving the program in a better place.

Q. John, how difficult is it in a game like this to establish an offensive rhythm especially when a goalie is seeing the ball as well as Alex was.
JOHN DANIGGELIS: It's tough for sure, but you can't really think of the last play. You've got to keep moving forward and try to attack the next one with a clear mind and give it everything you've got. Virginia's defense and their goalie played well today and unfortunately it wasn't our day.

Q. Coach, could you tell me, No. 5, Matt Moore, had a big game, couple of unassisted goals. What made him so tough today?
ANDY SHAY: He among some other guys, just incredible dodgers and incredible shooters. And I think they had a really good plan, put those guys in space against match-ups that they could handle. Pretty impressive?

Q. They were swarming, from a defensive perspective. What did you see in those hustle plays that perhaps can't be quantified in a box score?
ANDY SHAY: We knew coming in they were incredible off the ground. We talked to our guys about that. You know, ground balls wise it ended up being pretty similar, pretty even, but we won some face-offs that they didn't win and it felt like they got really key ones that, you know could have helped tilt it our way a little bit. Their poles are phenomenal off the ground and it's a huge key to their success.

Q. Andy, is it difficult in a game like this where maybe the pace of the game is not as fast as you guys would usually want it and to try and tip the balance of the tempo in this game?
ANDY SHAY: No doubt about it. They held the ball for every shot clock. They got it do single digits, I don't know, I don't know how many times. So that was very frustrating. We like to run, and we like to play fast, and they got a few saves on us a few failed clears, and they're possessing the ball as long as they were, it got very frustrating, and it wore on us.

Q. Can you talk about Matt's performance over the course of this tournament, and his classmates, what have they contributed this year?
ANDY SHAY: Matt has shattered the freshman goal record that Matt Gaudet had. He shattered the freshman scoring record that Ben Reeves had. I think he finished the season with 74 points, is that right, as a freshman? I can just stop there. That's impressive enough. He's such a good kid, worked his tail off, didn't start until the second to the last game of the season.

Because we had a senior there and we wanted to have a lefty presence on the break. He never complained. He did his job, and he went in off the bench and, you know, he's just an awesome kid. He does whatever we ask. He's a lot like his teammates, he does whatever we ask and he had a phenomenal year. I'm excited I've got three more years with him.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

ANDY SHAY: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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