Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Grant Williams' Monday Morning Presser
08/19/2019 | 3:45:00 | Women's Soccer
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois women's soccer head coach Grant Williams took time to speak with the media on Monday. Here is a partial transcript of his interview.
Head Coach Grant Williams
Opening Statement:
Obviously, the elephant in the room is 2,149 people coming to the first soccer match here at SIU. I have to say thank you to the administration, all the facilities people that managed to make this thing possible as well as anybody and everybody that came out to the match. Everybody that we talked to said that they were interested in soccer and that they were going to come out. Then, you're excited that there's a positive response to those things, but you know that there's probably a little apprehension about how many people are going to show up. I had a number in my mind and when that number hit, then the people kept coming and then the ends filled up. You're thankful that people care about what you're doing. Time is a precious commodity, just as much as anything else is. I hope that they truly enjoyed the experience and I hope that they recognized how historic that was.
On using exhibition matches to play with lineups.
That's one of the reasons we played exhibitions so quickly. In a three-day span, we basically played two matches, which is a normal Friday-Sunday, which is what our kids have this weekend. So, our kids are already familiar with what that takes, what the recovery looks like and how excited they are for the first one and how tired they potentially are for the second one. We played everybody and that, for me, is going to be an important challenge for me and our staff to give inexperienced players opportunities. We knew that since we got back into the game, SEMO would go back to their starting group. We, at that point, still continued to experiment and play players. On any team, you have players who are your best players and those who are not. We made the conscious decision to give those kids an opportunity to play. We conceded late, but we were competitive throughout. I feel that if we were going just for the win, we would've put ourselves in a really good position to do that.
On what the buzz was like after Saturday's exhibition.
I've had friends who have been in the business much longer than I have and they are all like, "What did you guys do to attract that kind of crowd?" I think our sports information department did a little digging and found that it was historic. We, in one night, surpassed the attendance for almost a third of the Division I programs in one night. I'm certainly not naive to think that that's going to be our draw each and every match that we have. It certainly shows that if we invest in the community and make them aware of what we're doing, if we can generate some excitement, if we can put a product out there that they are proud to associate with and call their team, there is no reason to believe we're not going to grow this into a really, really special soccer environment.
On what he has learned about the team through three exhibition matches.
We have a lot of really good pieces. It's just going to take a little time for them to get experience. We're still moving enough people around that that cohesion and chemistry will develop over time. To be competitive right out of the gate – I know we have talented pieces, but you get that sink or swim moment where you throw them into the pool and you just don't quite know what's going to happen. There were enough positive moments in each of the exhibition matches – fortunate to get a result against Tennessee Tech, which was a big relief for me to get that out of the way so that doesn't become the focal point. UIC went on to beat Cincinnati two days later. Cincinnati is a quality program that plays at a really high level. SEMO started off and beat Memphis, another really quality opponent. We were challenging ourselves to play at a good level and I just could not be more pleased about where we are.
On the team's offensive capabilities.
You need to be dangerous in the box. The game, although played in-between the eighteens, is won inside of them. You have to be really good defensively to win matches and you have to be dangerous on the offensive end. The fact is that we have good players who create problems for other teams. If it was easy to defend and our players weren't dangerous, we wouldn't be drawing those situations. The fact that we can be dangerous in that area and that teams make mistakes says a lot about our growth and how dangerous we're going to be as we continue to get better day-by-day.
To watch the interview in its entirety, click here.
SIU will welcome in the University of Illinois-Springfield for its regular season opener on Friday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available to purchase at SIUSalukis.com or by calling 1-877-SALUKIS.
Head Coach Grant Williams
Opening Statement:
Obviously, the elephant in the room is 2,149 people coming to the first soccer match here at SIU. I have to say thank you to the administration, all the facilities people that managed to make this thing possible as well as anybody and everybody that came out to the match. Everybody that we talked to said that they were interested in soccer and that they were going to come out. Then, you're excited that there's a positive response to those things, but you know that there's probably a little apprehension about how many people are going to show up. I had a number in my mind and when that number hit, then the people kept coming and then the ends filled up. You're thankful that people care about what you're doing. Time is a precious commodity, just as much as anything else is. I hope that they truly enjoyed the experience and I hope that they recognized how historic that was.
On using exhibition matches to play with lineups.
That's one of the reasons we played exhibitions so quickly. In a three-day span, we basically played two matches, which is a normal Friday-Sunday, which is what our kids have this weekend. So, our kids are already familiar with what that takes, what the recovery looks like and how excited they are for the first one and how tired they potentially are for the second one. We played everybody and that, for me, is going to be an important challenge for me and our staff to give inexperienced players opportunities. We knew that since we got back into the game, SEMO would go back to their starting group. We, at that point, still continued to experiment and play players. On any team, you have players who are your best players and those who are not. We made the conscious decision to give those kids an opportunity to play. We conceded late, but we were competitive throughout. I feel that if we were going just for the win, we would've put ourselves in a really good position to do that.
On what the buzz was like after Saturday's exhibition.
I've had friends who have been in the business much longer than I have and they are all like, "What did you guys do to attract that kind of crowd?" I think our sports information department did a little digging and found that it was historic. We, in one night, surpassed the attendance for almost a third of the Division I programs in one night. I'm certainly not naive to think that that's going to be our draw each and every match that we have. It certainly shows that if we invest in the community and make them aware of what we're doing, if we can generate some excitement, if we can put a product out there that they are proud to associate with and call their team, there is no reason to believe we're not going to grow this into a really, really special soccer environment.
On what he has learned about the team through three exhibition matches.
We have a lot of really good pieces. It's just going to take a little time for them to get experience. We're still moving enough people around that that cohesion and chemistry will develop over time. To be competitive right out of the gate – I know we have talented pieces, but you get that sink or swim moment where you throw them into the pool and you just don't quite know what's going to happen. There were enough positive moments in each of the exhibition matches – fortunate to get a result against Tennessee Tech, which was a big relief for me to get that out of the way so that doesn't become the focal point. UIC went on to beat Cincinnati two days later. Cincinnati is a quality program that plays at a really high level. SEMO started off and beat Memphis, another really quality opponent. We were challenging ourselves to play at a good level and I just could not be more pleased about where we are.
On the team's offensive capabilities.
You need to be dangerous in the box. The game, although played in-between the eighteens, is won inside of them. You have to be really good defensively to win matches and you have to be dangerous on the offensive end. The fact is that we have good players who create problems for other teams. If it was easy to defend and our players weren't dangerous, we wouldn't be drawing those situations. The fact that we can be dangerous in that area and that teams make mistakes says a lot about our growth and how dangerous we're going to be as we continue to get better day-by-day.
To watch the interview in its entirety, click here.
SIU will welcome in the University of Illinois-Springfield for its regular season opener on Friday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available to purchase at SIUSalukis.com or by calling 1-877-SALUKIS.
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