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Catching Up with Karen Ferguson-Dayes
May 08, 2020 | Women's Soccer
University of Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes reflects on last season, looks toward the 2020 campaign and talks about how she is dealing with the current situation.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville women's soccer head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes reflects on last season, looks toward the 2020 campaign and talks about how she is dealing with the current situation.
On Sarah Hernandez winning the Hungry and Humble Award at the Louie's last week.
Sarah is exactly that, the epitome of Sarah is humble and hungry. She has a high level of accountability and personal pride in who she is. And then every other choice she makes after that is 100 percent tied to her teammates. She is selfless, she is an awesome kid and she is never speaking about what she's doing, she's just going about her business and doing it. She had a year of experience to learn under the great (Gabrielle Vincent) and I think that was invaluable for her. She really looks up to Gabby and is indebted for that one-year partnership that they had and now she's created her own legacy and she's doing the same for the rest of the backline and players in front of her. As you're well aware, we're going to have some holes to fill at the back, so Sarah is instrumental in helping, at least through the spring portion that we were able to train, she was really great for the younger kids that we have been experimenting with in those positions.
On Gabby Kouzelos presenting Hernandez with her award.
Gabby loves empowering her teammates. She loves when they have success. She loves seeing them happy. Her and Sarah's connection, the centerback-to-goalkeeper connection, is huge. The trust is high and they really truly appreciate who each other is. I think that was awesome. Gabby is a really good speaker and she did a great job.
Reflecting on the 2019 season.
It was a really great way for our senior class to go out. That group of five players that started for us significantly impacted our program. So, for them to see the success they saw in their final year and to get into the NCAA tournament, to be in the ACC Tournament, and to have that level of success was awesome. So, with losing five seniors, we've got big shoes that we need to fill. I thought in virtually all the games that we won, which was a lot, we were really the team that should have won and I know that sounds crazy, but in soccer sometimes the best team doesn't always win. And I feel like in all of the games that we won we absolutely should have won and that's good because there's plenty of years when I look back and I say we should have won this game and we didn't. When you're in a situation where a lot of the mistakes you've previously made, you're not making anymore, that's a giant step forward. But, that's a testament to those five seniors, a very balanced senior class, both on and off the field. We'll miss them, but now the goal is to bring some of the new kids up to speed and allow them to have that same level of success.
On rebuilding the defense for next season.
Cassie Amshoff has kind of filled that role alongside Sarah Hernandez and she's done really well. Maisie Whitsett has moved to a wide backfielder from wide midfielder, so the transition isn't too different for her. We'll ask of her the same level of attacking as a wide midfielder that we'll ask her as a wide back, so I think that's a good spot for Maisie. And again, Cassie is a local player from Sacred Heart, she's got the skillset, unfortunately, what she's missed in the spring is the experience of games. She got the one game against Bellarmine, but her not having those spring game experiences, she's going to be affected by that for sure. So some of the adversity she would have seen this spring, she's not going to see until early next fall, which obviously isn't ideal. So, we're going to have to deal with some mistakes that some of the younger kids are going to make in the back, but with Sarah back there with Gabby in goal, it's probably the best time to make those mistakes because they'll be there to help cover for them.
On how Emina Ekic is doing.
She's doing great. It's in her DNA to have a ball at her foot probably 18 of her waking 24 hours. Despite not being able to play spring games, I still think Emina will probably have the best year ever. Against all these odds because it's her senior year. She's so prideful in playing for her home school. She wants to win a national championship more than anyone. She's chomping at the bit for teammate interaction and games. She's been the face of our program and I'm excited for her senior year.
On dealing with the current situation.
The mantra that we're kind of going with is 'make adjustments, not excuses'. So, I feel like with everything that's going on right now, that's a really good one because everybody's life has been turned upside down and the more we can make adjustments to our new life rather than excuses, the happier and more productive we're all going to be. At the end of the day, this is a global pandemic that we've never seen anything like before and we want to try to minimize lives that we're losing. So, if people can just be mindful of having to make adjustments rather than excuses, I think that'll help us.
For the latest information on Louisville women's soccer, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Twitter account at @ULWomensSoccer or on Facebook at facebook.com/ulwomenssoccer.
On Sarah Hernandez winning the Hungry and Humble Award at the Louie's last week.
Sarah is exactly that, the epitome of Sarah is humble and hungry. She has a high level of accountability and personal pride in who she is. And then every other choice she makes after that is 100 percent tied to her teammates. She is selfless, she is an awesome kid and she is never speaking about what she's doing, she's just going about her business and doing it. She had a year of experience to learn under the great (Gabrielle Vincent) and I think that was invaluable for her. She really looks up to Gabby and is indebted for that one-year partnership that they had and now she's created her own legacy and she's doing the same for the rest of the backline and players in front of her. As you're well aware, we're going to have some holes to fill at the back, so Sarah is instrumental in helping, at least through the spring portion that we were able to train, she was really great for the younger kids that we have been experimenting with in those positions.
On Gabby Kouzelos presenting Hernandez with her award.
Gabby loves empowering her teammates. She loves when they have success. She loves seeing them happy. Her and Sarah's connection, the centerback-to-goalkeeper connection, is huge. The trust is high and they really truly appreciate who each other is. I think that was awesome. Gabby is a really good speaker and she did a great job.
Reflecting on the 2019 season.
It was a really great way for our senior class to go out. That group of five players that started for us significantly impacted our program. So, for them to see the success they saw in their final year and to get into the NCAA tournament, to be in the ACC Tournament, and to have that level of success was awesome. So, with losing five seniors, we've got big shoes that we need to fill. I thought in virtually all the games that we won, which was a lot, we were really the team that should have won and I know that sounds crazy, but in soccer sometimes the best team doesn't always win. And I feel like in all of the games that we won we absolutely should have won and that's good because there's plenty of years when I look back and I say we should have won this game and we didn't. When you're in a situation where a lot of the mistakes you've previously made, you're not making anymore, that's a giant step forward. But, that's a testament to those five seniors, a very balanced senior class, both on and off the field. We'll miss them, but now the goal is to bring some of the new kids up to speed and allow them to have that same level of success.
On rebuilding the defense for next season.
Cassie Amshoff has kind of filled that role alongside Sarah Hernandez and she's done really well. Maisie Whitsett has moved to a wide backfielder from wide midfielder, so the transition isn't too different for her. We'll ask of her the same level of attacking as a wide midfielder that we'll ask her as a wide back, so I think that's a good spot for Maisie. And again, Cassie is a local player from Sacred Heart, she's got the skillset, unfortunately, what she's missed in the spring is the experience of games. She got the one game against Bellarmine, but her not having those spring game experiences, she's going to be affected by that for sure. So some of the adversity she would have seen this spring, she's not going to see until early next fall, which obviously isn't ideal. So, we're going to have to deal with some mistakes that some of the younger kids are going to make in the back, but with Sarah back there with Gabby in goal, it's probably the best time to make those mistakes because they'll be there to help cover for them.
On how Emina Ekic is doing.
She's doing great. It's in her DNA to have a ball at her foot probably 18 of her waking 24 hours. Despite not being able to play spring games, I still think Emina will probably have the best year ever. Against all these odds because it's her senior year. She's so prideful in playing for her home school. She wants to win a national championship more than anyone. She's chomping at the bit for teammate interaction and games. She's been the face of our program and I'm excited for her senior year.
On dealing with the current situation.
The mantra that we're kind of going with is 'make adjustments, not excuses'. So, I feel like with everything that's going on right now, that's a really good one because everybody's life has been turned upside down and the more we can make adjustments to our new life rather than excuses, the happier and more productive we're all going to be. At the end of the day, this is a global pandemic that we've never seen anything like before and we want to try to minimize lives that we're losing. So, if people can just be mindful of having to make adjustments rather than excuses, I think that'll help us.
For the latest information on Louisville women's soccer, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Twitter account at @ULWomensSoccer or on Facebook at facebook.com/ulwomenssoccer.
Players Mentioned
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