💬 McKinley Crone: 'It's just such an honor' to play for hometown club against North Carolina Courage

Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines

Opening Statement

“I think the experience of a shootout was one we haven't experienced ever, so having gone through that, it gives the players that sort of experience going forward. You can't replicate a shootout, as much as you can practice that ‘putting the pressure on’, you just can't do that in training. I thought the players dealt with it well. You know, it didn't go our way, which is unfortunate, but overall in terms of the game, we're very pleased to come [out of] here with a point. There’s no hiding in it, we've got a lot of players away on international duty. North Carolina didn't have that case, so they were a little bit more fluid with how they played. You could see that, those connections, that team chemistry, which took us a bit. But fair play to the players to come here one-nil down and have the desire and the character to come back and score the goal, it's brilliant to see. And we continue that momentum that we had in the league into the tournament now.”

On if the team played like “the Pride” in this match

“I think there was glimpses of it. I think there was an element of rust, as well. I think you could see that there was some players who hadn't played significant minutes during the season, also coming after a mandatory break and the travel. I hate making excuses because that's a cop out, but for us, we wanted to stay the same. We wanted to have that same identity, regardless who was on the field for us. And I think, looking back, it's a good result for us, and a lot to continue to work on throughout this tournament.

On McKinley Crone’s debut

“It was outstanding, she fully deserved that. We trust her. You see some of the distribution, a calmness in possession, and, like you said, in the shootout, she came up making a couple of save, it's brilliant for a goalkeeper. The pressure's on them. But to come out and make some saves, what a moment for her and it was great. It was a great debut for her. First, professional career debut. It's massive. And again, coming to this environment. A lot of teams have struggled here in the past, and North Carolina have had a really good run of results here at home. The players showed what they're capable of doing, and no more than McKinley Crone.”

Orlando Pride Goalkeeper McKinley Crone

On her debut

“I'm just excited to finally be out there, this is my hometown team. So to be able to represent this club, it's just such an honor. To be able to go out there with the girls that are on this team it's just so fun to be a part of it. I'm just excited to have been able to do so.”

On the emotions of stepping out on the field the first time

“It's a credit to the girls and the staff around us that there wasn't really a moment where I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm freaking out’, or anything like that. I think that they've [the staff have] prepped us so well for the whole year. I think this goes across the field that anybody who steps into the next spot, they're ready to go.”

On her mindset headed into the penalty shootout

“Just to hopefully do my part, and if I can do my part to help the team, then, that's what matters.”

On playing in front of her family tonight

“My family is everything to me, so to be able to have them here tonight, I couldn't have imagined a better way to be able to start my pro career. So I'm just so grateful for them.”

Orlando Pride Midfielder Morgan Gautrat

Overall thoughts on the match

“I thought for us it was a really good point. Hard fought on the road. A lot of people got minutes, which was great. And obviously, we're using every person on our team, which I think is huge and pays dividends long term with the length of the season. For us, it’s a good point, a good time to try and get a penalty kick shootout practice. So yeah, I think that's a good point.”

On how the rotation worked in the midfield on the night

“Also coming off a break...I think between a lot of different things, playing with new people on the field, everyone getting minutes and getting used to each other, there's definitely going to be bumps. But I think that we'll learn from it. I think we handled it pretty well, given on the road and against a really good North Carolina team. So yeah, I think we'll learn from it. We'll keep pushing.”

On how they played “Pride soccer” tonight

“Like I said, coming off a break I think we just will take the positives from this game, and I think we'll just get a little bit more playing in as we come back into training next week. And then, obviously, getting back into game mode. So I think that there were definitely glimpses tonight of Pride soccer, and I think we can have just a little bit more of those going forward.”