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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Match #5 Postgame Quotes
11/8/2002 | Soccer
Nov. 8, 2002
FLORIDA HEAD COACH BECKY BURLEIGH
This is a game we thought of as a redemption game because LSU tied us during the regular season. We knew our season was on the line tonight, and we had to come away with a win and we felt fortunate to do so. LSU had a lot of great chances. They hit the post and crossbar a couple of times. It was a game of opportunities and we finished ours.
I think we deserved to win. We out-played them. Our team did a great job of possessing the ball, particularly in the first half. It is probably one of the best jobs of possessing the ball we have done in the last few games. They had some opportunities, and we were fortunate not to give up a goal, but I don't think we were fortunate to win the game. We earned the win.
(On LSU)
I definitely want to credit (Coach) George (Fotopoulos) and his program. They played us tougher in this game than during the regular-season game. His players never gave up, even when we went up 2-0. In fact, when we were up 2-0 is when they had a couple of their most dangerous opportunities. His players play with a lot of heart. He has that program headed in the right direction.
LSU HEAD COACH GEORGE FOTOPOULOS
I congratulate Florida. The bottom line for us today is that we didn't finish our chances. To have that many chances and not put Florida away, it came back to haunt us. The back-breaker for us was not Florida's second goal, but us missing so many chances, especially throughout the second half.
(On finishing opportunities)
This was the worse job of finishing chances we had all year. When you had a couple of one-versus-one chances like we had tonight and not convert, there's just no way you can beat a team like Florida or win an SEC Championship. I don't want to take any credit away from Florida, but I know, deep in my heart, we had an opportunity to win this game. We didn't take care of our part and that's why we came out with a loss.
(On game being closer than 2-0)
We missed our chances, and Florida converted its opportunities. That's the type of luck we had tonight. I can make excuses, but we had our opportunities and we had no one to blame but ourselves. On paper, it may look like Florida was the better team with a 2-0 win. But, if you watched the game tonight, it was definitely closer than the score indicated.
