Dec. 2, 2005
New Mexico Head Coach Jeremy Fishbein
(on the team’s three-straight overtime victories in the NCAA Tournament)
“I feel pretty good about our team going into overtime, anytime. It’s a well-conditioned team and in this game, we had the whole flow of the game. That’s how you want to go into overtime and that team (California), I think they kind of got winded too. They kind of lost their legs that last little bit. It’s nerve racking because [the ball] can always take a funny bounce, but at the same time I was pretty confident in our guys. I was good bit more relaxed going into (overtime in) this game than I was the first two (NCAA Tournament games) because in our practices we’ve been sharp. We’re playing extremely well right now and everybody’s focus is good. It’s a real cohesive unit that’s making it hard for other teams to play.”
(on advancing to the final four):
“We want to enjoy it, we want to enjoy today’s game and then start getting prepared for next Friday and all that comes with it. I think we’re so focused right now, I don’t think the magnitude of the final four will be that distracting. I think we’ll be ready to play our game on Friday.”
(on playing away from home for the first time in the final four):
“This team is good on the road you know. We didn’t lose on the road this year. We’re good on the year. This is a focused group of players.”
New Mexico Senior Forward Jeff Rowland
“Third overtime game, I mean it’s not ideal, but hey we got it done again and we’re going to the final four – that’s all that matters. We were getting so frustrated. We outshot them 9-4 (on shots on goal) and we had so many good opportunities. We were mad not to finish it before overtime, but for Ben (Ashwill) to come down there and give me the best goal ever, giving me a tap to make me look like a hero again – it just feels great. This was our goal all season and we made it, but we’re not done yet. We’re going to try to win a national championship.”
California Head Coach Kevin Grimes
“It was a great game – very exciting. I think both teams had great chances to score. I think the first half, we maybe had one or two better chances. I think the second half, they had one or two better chances. Congratulations to them (New Mexico). They were able to get a big win tonight. Certainly their crowd helped them and that’s something we was possibly going to be a factor in the game, but I think our guys played a wonderful game and did everything they could to try and get the golden goal as well.”
“It was a historic season for Cal. It was a tremendous year with the farthest advancement we’ve ever had as a program. The players played beautiful soccer. It wasn’t just about results, it was about the way we played. We were complimented everywhere we went for our style of play and for sportsmanship and these guys should be proud of that and they should be proud of their performance today. They played a great game, it just didn’t go our way.”