Virginia midfielder Xander Dickson previews the quarterfinal game against Maryland.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Emotions or thoughts of Maryland, the fact that you faced them earlier this year
00:05obviously didn't go well, the fact that you guys have won an actual title against them.
00:09What are your thoughts about that matchup?
00:11I think we're just, as a unit, just excited to get back to them.
00:14Obviously, what happened in D.C. wasn't what we hoped, and I think we sort of
00:18have carried that with us for the rest of the season.
00:20I think we've been waiting for this game, and if we didn't know when we were going to see them again,
00:23we knew eventually we would.
00:24So I think for us, it's just an opportunity to sort of avenge what happened back then
00:27and play our best game and just see what happens.
00:29But overall, we're just excited to get back to them.
00:31When you played them the last time, Lars was really saying they're the undisputed number one.
00:35While they are coming in as the number one, does that all kind of go away in May
00:39and anything can kind of happen?
00:40I mean, yeah, you saw what happened with Delaware and Georgetown,
00:42just an unseeded team taking down the two-seed.
00:44We don't really care about rankings at all, but obviously they are still undefeated.
00:47They've proven that they've been the best team in the contract at this point.
00:50But for us, it doesn't matter.
00:51Once the whistle blows, it's just two teams going at it.
00:53So we don't care.
00:55Well, you said that they kind of set the bar for where you have to be.
00:58What has occurred over the last month and a half to bring you closer to that bar?
01:02A lot.
01:03I think we've changed so many things, not even just schematics,
01:05but just the effort we've put in to sort of be able to put up a game with them
01:09and take them down this time.
01:10I think we've spent every day sort of thinking about it.
01:12I think the team you're going to see on Sunday is a lot different than what you saw in D.C.,
01:16so we're excited to sort of put them to play.
01:18In what ways?
01:19Everything.
01:20Our offense is a lot more selfless.
01:21I think our offense moves the ball at a pace that's sort of next level now,
01:25maybe a little closer than how Maryland does.
01:27I think individually our guys have all stepped up
01:29and sort of gotten used to the pace of play, especially the tournament pace.
01:33And I think just as a team we're less selfish,
01:36we're more committed to our schemes and everything,
01:39and I think we're just so bought in right now and ready to go.
01:42How helpful is it that you're playing a team that you've seen already this year?
01:46It's big, yeah.
01:47I mean, they don't change a lot.
01:48We've watched a lot of film on them and we kind of know what to expect from them,
01:50which is huge because we've seen it before,
01:52but hopefully we'll have a different result this time.
01:55What kind of confidence did the win on the road at Brown in front of a raucous crowd,
01:59especially the way that game was tight through two quarters and a smidge?
02:04How much does that help you guys heading into this week?
02:07It's good.
02:08I mean, it was a good win.
02:09It's good for confidence.
02:10We knew eventually we should be able to run away with that game
02:12and we were able to sort of pour it on in the second half,
02:14and I think a lot of that, like Coach Tiffany said,
02:16was sort of our experience in May and our playoff experience,
02:18and we've had a lot of it.
02:20We have a lot of guys who have been in these positions,
02:22so we're just looking to sort of keep on going with what we put on the field there
02:25and just keep going into the next game.
02:26You're a redshirt junior, so you're supposed to graduate Saturday?
02:30I am not.
02:31A lot of my classes I'm not going to, so they'll be missing that, unfortunately.
02:35Coach Tiffany talked about getting closer shots against Brown
02:38was a big reason that the shot percentage went up.
02:40Is that figuring out the balance between how to be aggressive and how to be patient,
02:43and how do you get closer shots more often?
02:45I think when you look at the numbers between the first and second half,
02:48our average shots were a couple yards closer.
02:50That went along with our average time of possession was longer in the second half,
02:53and I think just early, they had a lot of crazy slide packages they were throwing at us,
02:57and we kind of panicked sometimes and just fired on that, and they had a good goalie,
03:00and it wasn't our smartest move.
03:01I think in the second half you saw us just sort of settle in and be a lot more patient.
03:05We used most of the clock.
03:07We were averaging like 38 seconds per shot.
03:10I think when you do that, things open up on the inside like they don't early on,
03:13so I think we were able to just sort of settle in and be patient
03:15and get great shots for forms.
03:18Do you have any good Rebecca Vazos stories?
03:21I don't have any good stories off the top of my head, but she's the best.
03:24She's the greatest trainer.
03:25She gets us all ready.
03:26I mean, you saw it when you were at the end of the regular season.
03:29Syracuse and Lafayette, a lot of guys were banged up,
03:31and the last two weeks she's just been in here every day getting everyone healed up,
03:33and I think it showed on Saturday against Brown that we saw Connor be a lot more healthy
03:37and that shoulder and everything.
03:38I think everyone's just back to full health, and it's huge.