Nov. 2, 2006

GAME 1: No. 3 Purdue 2, No. 6 Ohio State 1

Ohio State head coach Lori Walker
Talk about what kind of positives come out of a Big Ten Tournament loss:
"The NCAA is going to dip into the Big Ten to fill the bracket, and they're probably going to go all the way to No. 5. We've seen them pick teams as far down as No. 6, so it is possible. Now, we've just got to wait. Being eliminated from this tournament can sometimes help you. We'll head home today and sit tight for Monday."

Purdue head coach Robert Klatte
How important was it for your team to bounce back and score quickly after Ohio State scored?
"I think that was essential. Giving up a goal that put us on our back foot. If you spend too much time behind, you start to expend a lot of energy - mental energy and physical energy - chasing the game and thinking about the desperation that comes with playing from behind. Coming back to score within a minute of the Ohio State goal prevents that desperation from settling in and it's just deflating for them. The breaks went our way today."

GAME 2: No. 2 Illinois 3, No. 7 Wisconsin 0

Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield
Talk about the game and what you need to do to prepare for Purdue:
"The key thing for us right now is to focus on our recovery. I think getting a couple of early goals helped to settle us and helped us to keep posession of the ball. In a tournament like this, if you can get early goals and get your team relaxed, that really helps. As for tomorrow, I think it'll be another Big Ten battle. Purdue has some really great attacking players, so we'll see whose defense stops whose attack."

How do you help your players recover in time for tomorrow's game?
"There's a lot of things we're going to do - food, of course, is important. We'll do a good cool down and a good stretch. We're going to go find the ice tubs, even though it doesn't sound like a good thing to do on a cold day like today. My feet are already cold, but then again, I'm not going to stick them into the ice tubs. We've got all day tomorrow too to recover, so we should be OK."

Wisconsin head coach Dean Duerst
What do you tell your players after a game - and a season - like this one?
"In this game, you need everything to go exactly right. You need all those little things to go well. Today, we created a few fouls, dangerous fouls, and Illinois was able to capitalize on those opportunities. Illinois is a very dangerous, attacking, scoring team and we just gave them too many chances. We had a couple of chances - a corner kick that didn't drop in, and even when it was 2-nil, we still had chances. Our team had some great wins this year and we're really proud of that."

GAME 3: No. 1 Penn State 3, No. 8 Northwestern 2

Northwestern Head Coach Stephanie Erickson
Opening Statement:
"I thought we let Penn State in early and then we climbed our way back in and competed, and even outplayed them at times. I'm very proud of our team and I thought we did what we could. What hurt us was giving up two goals as early as we did. I thought we responded well (to Penn State scoring two early goals) but I think we were on our heels to start the game, just nervous, and we talked about that. But we have a young team as far as experience goes and so to get our team to play confidently right from the start, it's just hard to do. So I think that was a factor. But I think we responded to the early goals well, we didn't stop. In fact, we switched tactics and once we did that, we looked really good."

What was your team doing differently in the second half? It seemed like you were controlling the ball a little more than in the first half.
"We were trying to get numbers forward, obviously, because we were down. The way Penn State plays, there's a big gap between their backs and their mids and so we were encouraging our forwards and our attacking mids to just settle it and hold onto it and start to play from there. And we had a lot of success just doing that."

What does it say about your team, that despite playing Penn State twice and coming away with losses both times, you still put together pretty good games.
"I mean, if we played them again, we'd feel good, but eventually you want to come away with a win. I know it's hard to play here and they've got an amazing record at home and I'm proud of how we've put together games coming here this year. But eventually we want to get over the hump and come away with the win."

Penn State Head Coach Paula Wilkins
Opening Statement:
"I thought Northwestern did a great job. They are a very good team. They fought to the very end. I'm happy as a coach to get past the first round of the Big Ten tournament."

Were you surprised to have two goals so early in the game?
"I was pleasantly surprised. Obviously we talked about scoring goals because of our little deficit against Navy. I was happy we came out that fast and scored pretty quickly on Northwestern. I still think we need to put a complete game together."

What happened defensively to let them get those two goals after you guys scored?
"Northwestern made a very bold switch and compliment to them, they went from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 to put more pressure and get more people forward. I will take responsibility for not making a change quick enough where they were able to put us under some pressure and score those two quick goals. We didn't identify it soon enough."

GAME 4: No. 5 Michigan 2, No. 4 Indiana 1

Indiana head coach Mick Lyon
Could you talk about tonight's game and your season as a whole?
"It's been a season of missed opportunities and tonight just exemplified something that has really been biting at us throughout the year and that is creating a lot of chances and not putting the ball in the back of the net. You can't have that many opportunties around the goal and have the kind of season that we all dream of. We'll continue to try to solve that by recruiting and coaching. As far as the season, it was another good season for Indiana women's soccer, to get a national ranking for the first time in a long time, to be undefeated for the whole of September, setting some records - that's credit to the girls for some excellent work."

Michigan head coach Debbie Rademacher
Talk about the odd start - each team had an early own goal...
"I thought we played really well in the first half, that own goal kind of came against the momentum. Maybe it was Karma that we got the own goal back. It was nice being able to go into halftime with the lead, because we know Indiana is a tough team. I thought my team battled well."

Was the cold weather a factor?
"Yeah, it's pretty miserable but I think it was a factor for both teams. We were out there just trying to get through it."