Nov. 14, 2001
University of Kentucky soccer coaches Warren Lipka and Ian Collins addressed the media on Nov. 14 concerning their team’s postseason games this weekend. Lipka leads the women’s team (12-7-1) into the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time and is looking for the team’s first NCAA win. UK faces Clemson on Friday, Nov. 16 in the first round. Collins takes his men’s team (12-5-1) into the Mid-American Conference Tournament final for the third straight year against Akron on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the UK Soccer Complex. The home match gives UK the chance to win the MAC title and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA for the third time in three years.
Men’s Soccer Head Coach Ian Collins
Pre-Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship Press Conference
Opening Statement…
“We are looking for our third straight MAC Tournament title and we’re happy to be at home. We’re looking to build on our trip last year to the NCAA Sweet 16, but we have tough game ahead of us in Akron. It’s the top two teams in our conference playing. We finished 6-0 in the regular season and they finished 5-1, so we anticipate a very, very good game. We are just really happy to be playing it at home.”
On whether there is an advantage to having played Akron at home two weeks ago…
“I think it will be a wash. We know a lot about them and they know a lot about us, so I don’t think that game will make a lot of difference. It will come down to whoever plays the best game on that day. There will be a lot of good players on display, so it should be good.”
On whether there is added pressure since this is the third straight MAC title match for UK…
“According to the players, I am the most uptight person in the world. There’s always pressure. I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position for an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The main goal is that we want to win our third straight title. Our players want that really, really badly. We won the regular season, and we want to win the tournament as well to prove that we are by far the best team.”
On the All-MAC team and being named MAC Coach of the Year…
“Individual awards don’t excite me too much. Being named coach of the year, either you were terrible the year before and got better or you just have terrific players around you. I think we’ve got some pretty good players. I was very happy for Ilkka Jantti who was named Player of the Year and in my opinion should have been named that last year and the year before. He should definitely be on the ballot for national player of the year because he is one of the top five or six players in the nation. And John Monebrake got Newcomer of the Year. So, we have some good players, and good players make good coaching. That’s pretty simple.”
Women’s Soccer Head Coach Warren Lipka
Pre-Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship Press Conference
On making NCAA Tournament:
“We’re just excited to be back in the tournament as we missed it last year. We have six seniors that are playing their final season and they have a lot of experience in playing in postseason tournaments. We had three players on the SEC All-Tournament Team this weekend – Annie Gage at forward, Melinda Buemi in defense and our goalkeeper Beth Wells. We’re coming to the end of the season and hopefully everything that has happened in the past comes together well in the end.”
On peaking at the end of the season:
“I’m seeing a lot maturity in the way they are playing and in their confidence level that they take onto the field. They’ve fought through some adversity with not scoring goals in the midseason and now that’s past us. We’ve got a lot of positive things going into the NCAA Tournament. This is what everybody plays for, this is what Tubby (Smith) will play for and this what Ian (Collins) will play for – it’s all about getting to the big dance. We’re here and whatever happened in the past is gone now and we’re just looking forward to taking the field on Friday.”
