Dean Duerst Quotations

We are looking forward to being at home again. We have not played a home night game, so I hope there is a great electric atmosphere. I'm hoping we will get a lot of students out, which would be great.

We're preparing for our game. We need to stick to our principles, which is just play smart, play hard and play together. I think that is what you saw when we played Milwaukee last weekend. We really put that game together and we have been able to do that this year. If you get into the conference and you are thinking too much about the other opponents, I think it will hurt you and go against you.

Our game plan was specifically for Marisa Brown (Evanston Ill.) to take care of Tiff Weimer. Obviously she is a very special player and Marisa did a fantastic job.

Marisa is just noticeable; she is everywhere. She is such a complete player and is capable of playing any position.

We have been able to put back-to-back recruiting classes together to have the kind of team in which we are solid at every position.

There is a lot of pride on the line in a game like this. It has always been our goal at the beginning of the year to win the in-state title. Milwaukee is off to a very good start. They are always a very organized program. Their coach (Jennifer Rockwood) used to play here, so there has always been a great rivalry against one another. Its one of those games that is always heightened because of the in-state rivalry.

This weekend is like a Big Ten weekend. Both teams are solid. It should prepare us for Big Ten play.

As a group, I don't think it was our best effort. It is always tough to tie. It was a very exciting game and both teams could have won it. Our first-half performance was a level down and it affected the outcome of the game. We need to learn from that. We definitely came back in the second half and played with a lot more energy. It was a great battle.

The way Taylor (Walsh) took that first shot really made a statement. We came out of the box early. We showed a lot of maturity and leadership being ready for this match after a tough loss. Getting an early goal helped.

It was a really frustrating match. It was just a matter of not finishing tonight. We had a lot of chances that we couldn't convert on and that kept Iowa in the game. We had about eight one-on-ones with their keeper. In soccer, you sometimes see that. We missed the shots and I had an eerie feeling the bounces were not going to go our way.

It's hard to not feel happy about a win, but that was not our best game. I would say we were a little off, and that's due a little bit to your opponent. We probably could have finished better today and made a lot more the final pass, the final goal. Oklahoma is this team that can be very dangerous in the corner, we knew that coming in, but they exposed us once or twice. But, it never broke down the team. Overall, team defense was pretty good today.

In all my years of soccer I have never seen this many tough losses in overtime games in one season. This game is really going to help us the way we fought and stuck to the game plan. We adjusted very well to how this game was played.

Iowa is that hardworking team that will never go away. They're dangerous on things such as our set plays and that's maybe where they can take advantage of us. For us, it's just going after them and pressuring them because that's where their weakness is.

Illinois is a scary team this year, because they are a little inconsistent right now, kind of up and down, and they get a little rattled. They possess some good strikers. They have good speed and they have some very good one-on-one players.

Amy is the type of player that is going to get five or six shots a game. She does a great job with the ball, and we do a good job of using her.