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NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIPSMay 24, 2014Niko AmatoJohn TillmanBALTIMORE, MARYLAND Notre Dame – 11 JOHN TILLMAN: Just like to first congratulate Notre Dame. I thought they played a great game today, executed very, very well in just about every facet of the game, and I felt like outplayed us in almost every facet. Certainly I need to do a better job of getting our guys prepared and get them organized. But I thought they played well. At times I thought we played pretty well but just not consistently enough. But I think it had more to do with their execution and our inability to do so. I'd like to thank our seniors for all that they've done. We're certainly going to miss the guy next to me and all the seniors and appreciate how much they've sacrificed and what they've done for this program and this team, just having the characteristics that you want for young people in your organization and representing our state and our school and our alums so well all year, and I'm very proud of them for that. Q. Looking at the stat sheet, I see that Notre Dame had eight assists on their 11 goals. How much more difficult does it make your job as a goalie when a team is clearly moving the ball that well? NIKO AMATO: I mean, Notre Dame has a really talented offense, but you know, we always have faith in our defense. We went into the game believing in our game plan, and they played a little bit faster than us today, so give them the credit. But you know, I still think Maryland is always going to be a great defensive team, and I'm glad to have played with the guys that I did today. Q. 19 turnovers today for the team. Was it difficult dealing with that number of turnovers and the amount of time of possession that created for Notre Dame? NIKO AMATO: I mean, I wasn't really thinking about anything like that. We were just trying to win each possession and play one play at a time. We obviously tried to make some adjustments at halftime, but Notre Dame executed a good game plan, and they played well today. Q. Unfortunately your career ends kind of almost‑‑ in 2011 you guys made it to the Final Four, same thing in 2012. Talk about a great career, three All‑American nominations, talk about everything that it's been for Maryland. NIKO AMATO: Yeah, coach kind of hit the nail on the head in the locker room. Pretty much you risk getting your heart broken to go on a great journey with this team, and the guys and I wouldn't have traded anything in the world for these past five years. Q. Coach, six goals, 38 shots, strikes me as very similar to the final stat line in the ACC Championship. Is there something in Notre Dame's defensive scheme that is forcing you to take shots that make easy saves for Kelly and are off‑line? JOHN TILLMAN: Well, they certainly play great defense. They certainly always have. We felt like we got some decent looks, you know, 14 saves is pretty good. I still think we're a little bit stubborn with our shooting. We really talked about all week shooting the ball high, and that was one of the things we felt like we didn't do a good job of last time. I don't think we could have emphasized it more, and when we came out early and we just kind of got back to doing that, we talked about it, we practiced it, and funny things sometimes happen when you go into a game. Even though it's been part of the emphasis, you get in there and you just kind of go back to maybe some of the habits that you have, and obviously that's something that we're going to have to address and focus on. But we really feel like he was a better guy high than he was low, and again, we got some opportunities, and we still just didn't want to budge there. Q. Kind of talk about Charlie. It seemed on Wednesday that he was pretty fine. Did he aggravate an injury during the game? JOHN TILLMAN: Yeah, it sounded like it got reaggravated right before halftime. Charlie was a warrior. He wanted to go back in, felt like he could do it, but after consulting with the trainers, I wasn't comfortable and the trainers weren't comfortable with kind of what we were seeing, and we have to look at the young guy's long‑term health and what's in his best interest, and sometimes we have to save these guys from themselves. I'm not going to risk one guy's future for a lacrosse game, and I know our training staff wouldn't, either. All things being said, I thought Jon Garino did a really nice job for us, came in, won some face‑offs. Actually I think if his wings would have protected him a little bit more, we would have been fine there. Q. The four losses this year, and that's a credit to a great season being 13‑4, were all very similar, with offensive problems. The past couple weeks you've exploded the offense. What went wrong today? JOHN TILLMAN: Well, I think first quarter, I think a lot of that is just self‑inflicted. We turned the ball over I think eight times in the first quarter, and it was a little different turnover each time. It was maybe just a different situation with a different player. I think our guys were really amped up, and it's hard when you have‑‑ you have to have a defensive mentality and then you have to have an offensive mentality, so defensively you can have that fiery speech, but offensively you've got to make sure that you get into a flow and you play and you play, as John Wooden would say, you play fast but not in a hurry. Sometimes today we got away from some of the things that we wanted to do and some of the things that we practiced, and again, it was just one thing here or one thing there, but collectively when you add all those things up, it really kills your time of possession, it kills your flow, and I thought we put ourselves behind the 8‑ball. I'm proud of our guys. They kept fighting and fighting, and we kind of got it back to 2‑2, and the end of the first period was tough. We came out, we tried to mix in some zone, we got caught with some guys that I thought were tired defensively, so I called a time‑out. We went zone, they made a really good play, and then obviously Charlie went early on that face‑off and they pushed it and got another goal. So really that last half part of the first quarter I think gave them a lot of confidence, gave them some momentum coming out of the first quarter, so that's on me for calling that time out. Q. Kavanagh had 5‑2 today, just talk about what was he doing that was so effective in their offense? JOHN TILLMAN: I think he did a great job of just picking his spots. When he got his opportunities he made the most of them, but then I thought when he got himself‑‑ we had it a little bit too long or he didn't have anything, I thought he was just heady enough and poised enough to move the ball on and let somebody else take their opportunity. I thought the other guys obviously did a nice job of looking for him, and he's a terrific player. He's gotten better every game we've seen him, and he's gotten more confident. That's the type of performance you want out of a guy that's first, second‑team All‑American. Q. The game just ended 30 minutes ago, but when you say I have to do a better job to prepare my team moving forward, I know the game just ended, but what does that really mean to you? Is it something you'll take some time to consider, or is it something you've already considered? JOHN TILLMAN: You know, the way I was always brought up, and obviously with the coaches I've been with, when you win, it's the players that should get all the credit. When you lose, you've got to look at the top and the leadership and figure out where did we go wrong. With this group, they've done a great job, they've made a lot of sacrifices. We know candidly, our strength was going to be on our back end, and obviously at the face‑off X. So there were a lot of moving parts that we had all year, yet we weren't going to use that as an excuse. We were going to find a way to make it work. I feel like regardless of the people that you have, you can find a way. You just have to have the right scheme, develop confidence in them, give them the reps they need, and I think if you have guys that have that desire and they're good athletes and they care, you can find a way as a coach. You just need to build them up, put them in good spots and really just stay with them. And this group has been fantastic. They've been so unselfish. They've just‑‑ I feel like they've represented our school so well on and off the field. They've fought even to the end today, and I'm proud of them for that. And like I said, I'm not going to put the blame on them. I just have to do a better job of making sure that we're settled down coming obviously into the first half, and then when things aren't going well, making sure I can give them a plan to get them back on the right track. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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