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NCAA DIVISION III MEN'S LACROSSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 26, 2013Kyle AquinEvan BurleyJake CoonElliott CowburnAllister WarrenPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Stevenson – 16 JAKE COON: I guess the first thing I'd like to say is that I'm just extremely proud of the entire team. It was a great year for the program, and it was led by our seniors, a great group of seniors. Elliott is here, and Evan, have been fantastic leaders for us all season long. Just proud of their effort. They stayed classy the whole day, they battled the whole day, and I can't ask for much more. Q. For all four of you, you go on a big run third quarter, you enter 13‑10, what were you thinking entering the fourth quarter and what happened that enabled them to come back and seize control of the game? ELLIOTT COWBURN: We knew it was going to be a back and forth game going into this game, so we kind of just wanted to kind of try to stay poised the whole game, and we knew they were going to go on their runs, and unfortunately going into the fourth quarter there they just went on a big run. We had a couple lackadaisical shifts on defense and we paid for it. I'm definitely proud of the guys that played D today. We played tight all season, and it's just a testament to how we've worked all season. Although it didn't show on the scoreboard today, I'm definitely proud of the way the guys worked out there. KYLE AQUIN: Like Elliott said, lacrosse is a game of runs. Unfortunately they had the last run and they pulled out with the win. I think our team played solid all year. Our seniors did a great job all season including today. Obviously we're disappointed, but I think the underclassmen and the juniors and whatnot are very proud of the leadership our seniors showed today and throughout the year. Unfortunately, again, it's disappointing, but I think we have to be proud of our seniors for what they've accomplished all year. Q. Could you just talk about the overall experience of your first National Championship? ALLISTER WARREN: I think I speak for everyone, administration, our fans, our alumni, it was an awesome experience, not the best ending today. Coming down I think‑‑ coming down to Philly we couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. We were able to share it with family and friends, our coaches, our team doctor was in the locker room. That was great to see. I think it shows the underclassmen just how good we are and that we can play at that next level, and it's just a matter of handling those runs like we said in the first question. It's all about handling the runs, and we can play with anybody in the country, and although we came up short today, it was a great team and a great experience down in Philly. Q. My question is for you, Kyle: You tied an NCAA record for Division III with seven goals, a wonderful performance. What do you credit being able to get your hands free against this Stevenson defense who was all over you, especially in the second half? KYLE AQUIN: I think all the credit goes to my teammates. I just try and get open, and I trust all my teammates that they're going to make the right looks, and fortunately a few of them came my way, and I tried to finish all that I could. Q. Just to Kyle and Allister, how much does this championship experience help you guys moving forward? ALLISTER WARREN: I think it's huge for us. It's not the first time we've been to the tournament, but it's obviously the first time we've been to the final game, and I know personally I was a little nervous and had a couple jitters at the beginning of the game. I threw the ball away once pretty early, but I think it's huge we got it under our belt and we know we're capable of getting here and capable of playing in the big show. Hopefully we get another chance to come back here and capitalize on it and win a championship. KYLE AQUIN: I think being here is a big reflection on our coaching staff and our administration and our school. We've put a lot of work in over the years, so getting over the hump and being at the National Championship and playing for the trophy, I think it's a big step for our organization, and I'm really proud to be here and playing for RIT. Q. This question is for coach: I heard you say afterwards that you guys may be seeing each other in the next couple of years, the next few years, only four seniors on this team. What does this do paving the way as you guys go forward? JAKE COON: Yeah, we're planning on playing early in the season next year again and kind of making that a yearly thing. It'll be a rematch early on next year. I think it'll be another exciting, thrilling game. Hopefully we come out on the other end of it. These guys have done a great job. They've put in a lot of time. They've supported each other. We've had great support. I mean, our fans were awesome today from the Rochester community, from RIT, our alums. I think moving forward here, we've got a great group coming back. We've got some great kids coming in. So I feel good about the future, but I will say this: This senior group, four league titles, four NCAA appearances and our first National Championship appearance, I can't say enough about what they've done for the program. Q. Kyle and Elliott, when you guys had a 13‑10 lead after the third quarter, did you guys think that basically the game was yours? KYLE AQUIN: You know, like we said earlier, we knew that the game was going to be a game of runs, and we definitely don't want to be too content with the lead going into that fourth quarter, like I said, a couple hiccups on defense swung the momentum back their way. We did a great job with the face‑off X all day with Tyler Brooks‑Lambert. The stats don't show that it went their way, but he definitely he was credited with being one of the best in the nation and Tyler Brooks‑Lambert solidified himself as one of the best face‑off guys in the country. I definitely saw maybe a few ground balls here and there, attested it to a few more possessions for them and ultimately that was the factor in the end. Q. What was the mood of the team eight minutes in there where they took a 5‑0 lead and then coach coon took a time‑out? How were you guys able to really recover? EVAN BURLEY: Me personally, I had quite a few nerves going. I think that was the same for most of the guys. Stevenson definitely came out on fire, and that showed in the early score there. I think it just took us the first quarter to kind of get the jitters out and the message that coach had in that first time out is that game's on here. This is your last game no matter what, so you might as well keep working. And I think we responded pretty well in the second quarter and especially the third. Unfortunately we didn't come out with the win, but we definitely were able to turn around the momentum a bit in the second and third. Q. For Kyle, talk about the penalties that your opponent committed today and the opportunities that presented themselves. 4 for 10 extra man is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but especially with that last chance, two men up and looking at that 4 for 10, do you think it's going to hurt a little bit to maybe watch this game replay, the chances you didn't cash in when you were at least one man up? KYLE AQUIN: I mean, yeah, it's going to hurt, but you have to give credit to their man down. They're a very good team, very good poles out there, and they made it difficult for us to get in a groove and whatnot. And unfortunately it was one shot away at the end there, and it just didn't go our way. Like I said, we have to give credit to their play on the defensive end. Q. Jake, what has this been like for you, building this program into really an upstate New York powerhouse? JAKE COON: It's been a great ride so far. Like I said, we've had great young student‑athletes who have bought into my personal philosophy and the coaching staff's philosophy from day one. So without that, you don't have much. I trust our staff. I think we have a great staff in place, but what it really comes down to is those guys believing and trusting the staff and executing and staying disciplined and being classy. It's been fantastic. I'm really proud of the guys and happy that we were able to get to the championship because now they really understand how it feels to play in this game. I've been fortunate in my past to play in a few and coach in a few, so I've been trying to convey that to them for years now, and now they have that taste. I think moving forward that's a positive for us. Q. Coach, the experience in the NCAA goes farther than the field, and your team is an exceptional team. Can you give everybody some highlights maybe not just between the white lines but for your team as a whole this spring? JAKE COON: Certainly that's a great honor for Pat. He's a great young man. Like we say about him, he's kind of his worst critic sometimes, very driven, very focused, very proud of him winning that award, and I know our athletic director Lou Spiotti was, as well. These guys in the classroom have a lot on their plate. There's no doubt RIT is a tough school. They do a nice job of balancing both. We put a lot of time in on the field and it's a lot of work, and for them to‑‑ I think we're carrying about a 3.15, around there anyway, as a team, so we're proud of that, as well. Our goal is a 3.25 so we're a little short. So I guess we're always looking to improve. But I think they balance it very well, a good group of young men. Q. As a high‑scoring game your team has played in plenty of those, but as a frenetic up‑and‑down game, it kind of felt like it was very much within Stevenson's wheelhouse in terms of they've played a lot of those types of games this season. Can you talk about how the game unfolded and how it relates to your team's identity and the type of games you like to play? JAKE COON: I mean, we're comfortable in that sort of game. It's not something that we're not going to change anything at this point in the year. We're going to continue to play how we want to play. We like that up‑tempo style of play. Like these guys had said, it was a game of runs. More than a lot of games I've seen, it was back and forth all day, momentum shifts. Unfortunately on defense, first of all, we came out slow. We came out a little starry‑eyed, I guess, and that was a big concern of mine, and we kind of paid for it in the beginning. But they battled‑‑ they mentioned that time out, there was a lot of time left in the game and we brought that up. We have plenty of time to regroup here and get this back together, and I thought we went on a great run. In the fourth quarter they made a few changes. They pulled 40 out. We were short sticking Pannenton. They pulled him out and we weren't able to play with two poles up and I think that was a big change for them and it shifted so their midfielders were getting some good looks. In the end I thought a few bounces went their way, and that's the difference. Q. Go back to the last sequence, the 10th and 11th foul on Stevenson, you're two men up. If you could have that possession back, the quality, the execution of that shot and obviously the effect it had on the outcome, could you kind of get into that a little bit? JAKE COON: I recall I think Kyle took the shot, or one of the shots anyway, and he just missed the far post, had a pretty good look at it. I mean, Kyle had seven goals today. If there's anyone we want shooting the ball, I think it's him. And then I think there was a scrum and we came up with the ball. I know Eddie took one shot. He went high with it, and their goalie made the save. That's one of those things that you can preach all day long, just shoot low and shoot here, shoot there, but when he gets the ball in his stick he's got to make the choice, and he shot it high, and it is what it is. The goalie made a good save and that was that. I think the play that we ran, it worked out okay, we just didn't put it in the net that time. Kyle had stuffed in seven all day, so let's give him the ball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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