Up next in 10
Wake Forest's Caiya Hanks, Zara Chavoshi and Coach Tony da Laz after Deacs' loss to #UNC
Dec 10, 2024
#wakeforest
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0:17
this is the postgame press conference
0:19
following the final of the 2024 NCAA
0:21
Women's College cup we are now joined by
0:24
members of the Wake Force team and
0:25
deacons we have with us head coach Tony
0:27
Del along with Stud
0:31
K Hanks and Zara chosi we'll have an
0:34
opening statement from coach followed by
0:35
questions for the student athletes they
0:38
can go have questions for Coach so coach
0:40
the floor is yours uh I just want to
0:42
thank uh town of carry and um wake meded
0:46
for hosting a fantastic event um
0:50
everything was first class um made our
0:53
experience pretty
0:55
special um also want to congratulate UNC
0:58
on a great great game and uh and and the
1:01
national championship and um you know
1:06
it's it's kind of sad that Anson's not
1:08
here to to to accept this and but
1:12
um um you know I totally to Total
1:16
respect for him and all he's done to
1:18
build this program put it where it is
1:20
and I wish him all the best uh and Damon
1:24
has done a fantastic job with his team
1:27
uh all season long um so I congrat ulate
1:30
him on on his uh First National
1:33
Championship um I couldn't be prouder of
1:35
our team we had an incredible
1:38
season um the our performances were so
1:40
consistent all year long tonight we were
1:42
fantastic I thought we did everything
1:44
but but win the game like we we we move
1:48
the ball as well as we have all year
1:50
long and it was very similar to our
1:52
first game against UNCC and we just we
1:55
let him off the hook and we weren't we
1:57
weren't uh precise enough um to get the
2:00
goal and um that's that's the way it is
2:04
um but I'm so proud of our team of our
2:07
seniors our 19 seniors uh everybody
2:10
bought in this year um this is just an
2:14
incredibly
2:15
family um that
2:18
uh that is just special one in a million
2:21
so um you know we just go on from
2:25
here question student
2:30
like coach said I mean this game you
2:32
guys seemed like controlled A lot of it
2:34
I mean the passing the possession um
2:37
what about you's backline just didn't
2:39
let you guys finish I mean it just
2:41
seemed like you guys had everything
2:42
working for you guys except for just
2:44
getting the ball to the
2:49
net um well uh they're a great backline
2:53
I mean they have good players but I
2:55
don't think it was necessarily them that
2:57
didn't allow us to put the ball in the
2:59
back of the net I think um you know we
3:02
just fell short um and it just is what
3:05
it is but I would say that we still
3:09
worked hard and I mean they worked hard
3:11
as well but we still got just as many
3:13
opportunities as they did it just are um
3:18
technical
3:19
errors
3:21
yesy congrats on a great season both
3:24
individually and as a team um you have a
3:27
head garment on there you want to kind
3:28
of talk to that means to um yeah so this
3:32
is a Le um coming from Hawaii my parents
3:36
are here my family's here and um it's
3:39
basically a garment
3:42
that it's really just like something you
3:45
honor somebody with um and just like in
3:49
any place any like celebration you honor
3:52
them with the LOL um or you see it on
3:56
hoola dancers heads as well so my
3:58
parents brought it for me um and I'm
4:01
super grateful that they did it reminds
4:03
me of
4:15
home
4:21
expi I think Tony's one of the best
4:23
coaches I've had um we came in I think
4:26
my class 15 people and 15 you know
4:31
freshmen and now it's 19 seniors so he
4:33
doesn't only develop people he brings in
4:35
quality and everyone in the country can
4:38
see it and they want to come to our
4:39
school we come to National Championships
4:41
and We Make History like this season um
4:45
yeah very grateful for him and
4:47
everything he does for us as well as the
4:49
rest of the coaching staff and the team
4:51
we push each other every single day and
4:53
that's why we're here
5:00
yeah um I would just want to say like he
5:03
he's a great coach he loves the game um
5:05
he reads the game he watches the game
5:06
and he he's just a student of the game
5:09
as much as he is the coach of the game
5:11
but he also just loves this entire team
5:14
like he puts his all into what we do and
5:18
who we are as people so there's always
5:21
support there's always people just
5:23
hanging out in his office because they
5:25
just want to be around him so he's a
5:27
great person great coach
5:32
question uh at least for you being a
5:36
junior how valuable was this experience
5:39
to be able to make it this far playing
5:42
this game especially now that you have
5:43
one more chance next year to try and get
5:46
back to this point and hopefully uh in a
5:48
better spot yeah I mean it's incredibly
5:52
special I say this all the time this
5:54
team is so so special um and I'm just so
5:58
grateful to be able to be a part of it
6:01
to be a part of this like class like
6:04
this these seniors are so great and
6:06
they've LED this team so well and I'm
6:08
happy to have also helped to lead it as
6:11
well um but I think our main thing this
6:14
entire season was just like being able
6:16
to spend more time with each other and
6:19
extend our season is something that we
6:21
always say and extend the time that we
6:23
have with one another and we made it
6:24
this far we made it to the last possible
6:27
game that we can play of the season of
6:30
the year and um it's just something that
6:33
we should all be proud of and I'm so
6:35
proud to be a part of this
6:40
team
6:43
that
6:45
it able to represent Forest
6:49
both team
6:53
and um we have some of the best alumni
6:56
in the country I mean before the game
6:59
and this P since Friday they've been in
7:02
our hotel cheering us on um it's
7:05
familiar faces some faces from 30 years
7:07
ago and then some people who are coming
7:10
in the next few years it's been amazing
7:12
the support is amazing it speaks to Tony
7:16
all these alumni coming back and his old
7:19
um players who are supporting us just
7:21
like they're are teammates it's just
7:23
amazing the family and you couldn't even
7:25
tell what class anyone's in we're just
7:28
we're all one family and I just think
7:30
that speaks the Wake Forest culture as a
7:33
whole any other questions from studentet
7:36
in the back one
7:38
more just one question for you here
7:40
you're one of the few players on a team
7:42
who been a starter since crushing here
7:45
I'm just reward to theam to this point
7:48
as you're on your way
7:50
out I think that this is something the
7:53
entire team has kind of come together
7:56
and done I don't don't think any per
7:58
person or individuals let it on
8:01
themelves um but it has been in honor
8:05
like looking out in the crowd there were
8:07
some seniors that were there when I was
8:10
a freshman and how they led the team and
8:12
now I'm I'm a senior and I wanted to be
8:14
just like them so it's been amazing to
8:17
see kind of how far we've come um no one
8:20
would have thought it freshman year
8:22
sophomore year junior year and here we
8:24
are like no one believed in us except
8:26
for
8:27
ourselves um so yeah it's just been
8:30
amazing four years and yeah very proud
8:33
of everyone that's a part of
8:39
it questions
8:44
congratulations thank
8:52
you you yeah I mean the comment about
8:56
the alums I mean you could see them out
8:57
there they're they're in full force
8:59
course and enjoying themselves and you
9:01
know we have Alum that came from Montana
9:04
you know probably five or six that came
9:06
from
9:07
California um flying red eyes to be here
9:10
and um that I mean that's what it's all
9:12
about it's it's uh we lost the game and
9:15
it's super disappointing it's
9:17
Heartbreaker um but to see that um you
9:22
know it
9:24
definitely changes the perspective on
9:28
everything question for
9:31
Coach coach so you kind of mentioned it
9:34
ear and I know you did lose the game but
9:37
is there a part of you that feels good
9:39
knowing you went out playing your style
9:40
you compromis absolutely I mean I I
9:43
thought some of our football tonight was
9:46
brilliant some of the some of the
9:48
passing and and the situations we got
9:51
out of were was shows the intelligence
9:53
of our players and and um I told the
9:57
kids before the game that these are
9:58
games where these big games you have to
10:01
separate the emotion from the game and
10:03
you have to focus on your training focus
10:06
on everything that you've learned and uh
10:08
and I felt that our kids were extremely
10:10
comfortable tonight um uh very very
10:14
confident uh so I'm really proud of the
10:16
performance and I hope you know if
10:19
people watched us play that they enjoyed
10:21
what they
10:23
saw you hav't obviously had a chance to
10:26
review film and look at how the game
10:29
went from a hindsight point of view but
10:32
is there anything in your mind that went
10:34
wrong that could have been fixed or
10:38
something that like you're saying man I
10:39
wish we spent more time on
10:41
this I mean we gave a goal on a free
10:44
kick a very good free kick you know it's
10:47
it's like their you know probably their
10:49
best chance of the game really um so I
10:53
couldn't do anything different I mean
10:55
the players put themselves in good
10:57
positions created good chances
11:00
um you know we just we just fell short
11:03
we we couldn't couldn't score the goal
11:06
so um I have no regrets about anything
11:10
we
11:12
did having gone on a run like this do
11:15
you anticipate the reflection to longer
11:19
normal at
11:20
all
11:24
um yeah I'm going to take I'm going to
11:27
try to get some sleep um
11:30
it's it's like we've been gone for a
11:32
long time um haven't seen my house in a
11:35
while um but you know I I don't I know
11:40
what we did this year I'm
11:42
not I'm like I said I was very
11:44
comfortable and calm with this team all
11:46
year long I was totally confident
11:48
tonight um and you know I I just reflect
11:53
back on the commitment they made in the
11:55
spring to to get their team uh under
11:58
control control as far as being tighter
12:02
um
12:04
um just just working on relationships
12:07
within the team that was their
12:08
commitment uh in the spring and um if
12:12
you hung around with these kids you
12:14
would know um they sang pretty well
12:17
together on the bus and that uh with
12:21
full energy and full volume so um I I've
12:25
really enjoyed this team it's going to
12:27
be tough to see him go
12:31
kind of a random question but um on
12:34
Friday after the Duke UNC game Robbie
12:36
talked about he was getting a call
12:38
during his conference and said it's
12:39
probably you calling to yell at him for
12:41
losing something you couldn't plan
12:42
tonight um also talked about how you
12:45
flooded his
12:46
house I did I saw that uh saw that press
12:50
conference um did you have any
12:52
conversations with him yeah yeah I
12:54
called him today I sent him the the link
12:56
to the interview and was like well you
12:58
know that washing machine was 30 years
13:00
old I I put two towels in it and you
13:04
know it flooded the house and when I got
13:06
back there was 2 Ines of water in the
13:07
house and um so it's his fault really
13:10
for not investing in a in a better
13:12
washing machine um but I'm a Miss Robbie
13:15
a lot he's um just quality guy he's
13:25
really um
13:30
I don't know I've got a lot of respect
13:32
for
13:34
him it's going to be different for
13:40
sure
13:45
questions how much of
13:48
presence did that class ofi have on this
13:50
team and how much of
13:53
a I mean yeah numbers Wise It's seven
13:57
out of 11 sen uh seniors starting on
13:59
your team 19 seniors total um and really
14:04
the kids that didn't play made just as
14:07
much of a contribution as the kids that
14:09
started and played all the minutes
14:11
because they came to work every day and
14:14
trained and made things hard for
14:16
everybody uh I I'm incredibly proud of
14:20
those kids that that's a hard thing to
14:22
do to sacrifice yourself uh your own
14:25
self-interest and and uh be a team
14:28
player in that in that atmosphere it's
14:31
it's the most selfless thing you can do
14:33
and they were supportive of the team
14:36
till the very end and and um that's a
14:40
big part of our success this year
14:42
everybody just bought in and they loved
14:45
it so um I'm as proud of them as as
14:49
anybody
14:50
else for one more hey coach kind of
14:54
looking forward you're someone that
14:56
seems to be very excited about the
14:57
development aspect job so how excited
15:00
are you about some of the Freshman you
15:01
have coming in and some of the players
15:03
on this team who may be in future this
15:05
year but you're
15:06
anticipa yeah I mean we got
15:08
unfortunately we had some young players
15:10
that didn't get to play much this year
15:12
just because the seniors were so good
15:14
and um I believe a lot in continuity in
15:17
our team I'm not a massive subber you
15:20
know I go 14 15 players um so you earn
15:24
earn your place um but the young kids
15:27
were really really good in pushing every
15:29
day um so we have a good really good
15:31
core returning and our our freshman
15:33
class is fantastic we may be better up
15:36
front uh next year than we we are now
15:39
than we were this year um and you know
15:42
we'll add a couple pieces probably on
15:44
the transfer portal just two players to
15:47
address uh defensive issues because
15:49
we've lost our two center backs and we
15:52
need to uh bring in a little bit of
15:54
experience there but um yeah I'm excited
15:58
I'm excited for the future of the team
16:00
and the program and to go this long in
16:02
the season and have that experience of
16:04
training till December 9th um our
16:07
returning players are going to get a lot
16:09
out of this um and and know what it's
16:12
like so you don't get that opportunity
16:14
very
16:15
often coach congratulations on fantastic
16:18
season thank thanks a lot
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