OPENING STATEMENT
They gave us everything we could handle throughout the game for us to have to earn that win. I couldn't be more excited or more proud of our team and what they were able to accomplish today and throughout the season. Especially today, we started strong, started fast and did a good job in the first half and were able to withstand Syracuse's effort to get back in that second half. Our guys did that with great discipline and toughness throughout the whole game.



SHAWN, WHEN DID YOU REALIZE MATT [HOY] WAS THE GUY IN THE NET FOR YOU AND WHAT MADE THAT DECISION?

I can't remember actually which game. We had flip-flopped him and Josh (Miller) throughout the first part of the CAA play and he just gave us that confidence in practice and obviously in games, just showing us that he wanted it. The defense was rallying around him and it was something that rose to the top where he obviously put himself and earned that position and then kind of forced us into that decision and obviously, you know it's been great.


WHAT GOT INTO YOU GUYS AT THE START? WAS IT UNEXPECTED?
Especially the way we played all year, we haven't done what we did in the first quarter today much throughout the season. That's something we continued to try to emphasize, being much sharper, especially offensively because we generate good opportunities and finishing the ball. But think the guys were just, we talked about being focused right off the bat, being aggressive right off the bat and finishing those opportunities. You can talk all you want, but it comes down to executing and making those plays and our guys did that today, so I don't know if it was just the energy in the stadium giving them a little more juice.


WHAT DID YOU SEE DIFFERENTLY AS OPPOSED TO EARLIER IN THE SEASON WHEN YOU GUYS WEREN’T SUCCESSFUL?
RYAN DRENNER: Yeah, we just had a really good shooting day coming out in the first quarter. We buried a lot of our shots and that gave us momentum for the rest of the game. I think we were on top of the scout with what the goalie was going to do and what we were going to see from him and I think we executed well in the first quarter.


WHAT CAME TOGETHER DEFENSIVELY FOR YOU GUYS?
SHAWN NADELEN: It was a team effort, we have a really nice defensive midfield, I put a lot of faith and trust in those guys and in the supporting cast around them along with Matt (Hoy) in the cage. We felt it was going to be the strength of their offense, which is that offensive midfield going against kind of our strength in the defense, with our first
nine mids. Fortunately, we came away on the positive end there. We did a good job being disciplined, and they did a good job generating some stuff. We had a couple of scary situations that they generated but we made a couple of nice plays at the same time so our guys were pretty locked into the game plan.


WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE APART OF BREAKING A 16-YEAR FINAL FOUR DROUGHT?
RYAN DRENNER: It's really exciting. I think the team is playing well at the right time of the year. I don't think anybody on the team would say it's a magical feeling because we expected to be here. We built on our success each year and right now I think were really confident going into next weekend.


WHAT DID YOU SEE TODAY AND WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR YOU TODAY?
MATT HOY: So early in the game, in the first quarter, they had their first man-up shot from the wind that I saved and that kind of put me in the zone for the rest of the game. It was really nice getting that first one and getting the confidence on what I see as their best shooter right from the get-go. And kind of as the game wore on, I can't explain it, you get into a zone as a goalie. I was telling Josh (Miller) on the way here, it's like I didn't even see the ball at points in this game, I just went. I almost knew where they wanted to shoot the ball and that comes from great preparation from the coaches, from the film, Coach Shilling told us a lot about where the attack was going to shoot. It was just a combination of everything and the defense playing incredible. Even though they had one of the best offensive midfield that we've seen all year, our defensive rope unit did an incredible job making sure that those middies weren't shooting with their hands free so that helps me out a lot.

WHAT HAS ALLOWED YOU TO EVELATE YOUR GAME?
MATT HOY: I think it's just kind of the formula that we put forth in every game play. We focus a lot on trying to get the ball on the ground from the midfield, our defensive midfield unit clearing the first time and we just won a ton of face-offs and that's to Alex's credit. I really don't see that many shots. If you look throughout the CAA Tournament,
I usually see half as many shots as the other goalie and that's attributed to how many face-offs we win, how many times we can get the ball on the ground from 1-on-1 play with our defenders clearing the first time. Syracuse did a good job today clearing us back on a couple of clears but I still felt the guys in front of me played their hearts out, they
really get the ball on the ground a lot.

WHAT WAS THE MENTALITY OF THE TEAM COMING OUT?
ALEX WOODALL: I think we just knew what we had to do. I mean we all expect to go to the Final Four, so our game plan was play everything. I just did my usual thing, obviously it was a little harder today to run full speed, but I think my wings helped me out a lot, blocking out their wings and helped me pick up a few ground balls, but I think we all just
wanted it more.

WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST QUARTER WHEN EVERYTHING IS CLICKING?
RYAN DRENNER: It's a really good feeling as you can guess, I think we just shot the ball well, I feel like everything was clicking for us in the first quarter and going into the second quarter as a group we kind of said we need to take a level-headed approach to these next three quarters. We hadn't won anything yet and a six-goal first quarter is not going
to win a game. It's the play for the next three.


HOW HAVE YOU IMPROVED?
SHAWN NADELEN: I feel like it's been chemistry. Matt (Hoy) has become our starter since then and with the fluctuation we had in goal throughout the midway point of the season, and Matt solidifying himself in the cage, which has really been a huge shot in the arm for us defensively, he definitely stole some goals for us in that fourth quarter to keep
Syracuse at bay and really seal the game for us. He's done that in the CAA playoffs and done a great job for us there, but the chemistry from the inexperience at our close position to the experience at our rope position has really continued to come through and they've been feeding off each other, they're playing more cohesive. So I think that's
been a little bit better for us.


WITH THE LEAD DID YOU REMIND YOURSELVES ABOUT SYRACUSE’S RECORD WHEN COMING FROM BEHIND
MATT HOY: Definitely. Guys were yelling at each other that they don't hand out trophies at halftime and I think that we knew Syracuse is a team that really did a great job of going on runs in the third and fourth quarter. I know I was feeling really paranoid at halftime that we were in for a similar run to what they did in the ACC Tournament against UNC when they came back from I don't even know how many goals, so I was really focued on trying to get the defense to stay mentally engaged throughout the third quarter knowing that at any point, since they're a transition team that they can flip the switch and really going on a run, so it's almost a sense of being paranoid throughout.