University of North Carolina Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
April 19, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
April 19, 2002
North Carolina Head Coach John Haus:
"We obviously did not play as well as we need to in order to beat a team
like Virginia. I take full responsibility for our team not performing
well. It was a lack of execution on the offensive end and some
breakdowns on the defensive end."
On Virginia:
"They are a great team. We did not execute in order to beat them, but
they are a really good team. They did a heck of a job tonight."
North Carolina Goalkeeper Paul Spellman
"We had a decent defensive effort tonight. I think early on started
chasing people instead of really playing solid defense, which worked
against us."
Virginia Head Coach Dom Starsia:
"This was a terrific win for us. I think that the chore for the top
seed coming back here, especially the way our schedule is set up, since
we just played these two teams, is particularly difficult. To come back
and beat a quality North Carolina team in a game, I was very, very
pleased. I think our kids played hard. I thought we let it get away
from us a little bit offensively, I don't think we were as careful with
the ball as we could have been at times, I don't think our shooting was
great, but overall we always played hard and defensively, I thought we
could just defend them all day."
"I'm at a loss to explain why it happened. It's certainly not a
characteristic of this team, a thing like that begins to take on a life
of its own. If these guys believe that we're in the game in the second
half and we have a chance, I think we're going to play hard in the
fourth quarter. That's certainly been the time when we played our best
lacrosse since the first day."
"On the defensive end, I think we all elevated ourselves individually
and then when Mark (Koontz) came back out to play I think it just lifted
the whole group. And of course, when the goalie plays you're going to
play good defense, and (Tillman Johnson) was on his game all night."
Virginia Sophomore Joe Yevoli:
"I just felt that we had a great day. We were talking, we were moving
well with the ball, and I just thought that defensively we were
excellent. Everybody was hustling. Of course, we loved being able to
have Mark Koontz out there. To see him able to play made everybody feel
great."
"If you start thinking that you have the game locked up, then things go wrong, we'd be on our heels and then they can have a run. It takes pressure off of us when the defense plays really well, especially when Tillman (Johnson) plays well. He was unbelievable, I've never seen him play like that. It helps the offense out a lot."
