Jerry Smith Game Quotations

Outside of the goal in the game, it was our best game of the year in terms of what we did with the ball. We kept possession and moved the ball well, and had good rhythm and flow. We created numerous quality scoring opportunities today. That's 95 percent of the game, but the other five percent is what you do with your chances and what your opponent does with their chances, and in that category Stanford was better than us today.

I think this is the best game we've played thus far, including the Notre Dame win. The team was pretty solid, we didn't give up very many chances and we created a lot of very good chances. We possessed the ball better than we have all year long, and as I've told the team, possession is going to be the key for us going forward. Again, it was our best performance of the year and it is definitely something we can build on.

I wasn't comfortable last night. I think it's going to be a challenge for me all week. I don't try to deny anything, but maybe my game will start feeling a little better as the week goes along.

It seems like everybody's on break except for us; I couldn't find a game to schedule this week.

It was a typical first game of the season, ... Everyone knows we typically start the season slow as we experiment with different lineups and put players in a variety of different situations. We started out the game that way for about the first 25 minutes. Then, I thought we looked pretty good and the stretch where we got the two goals was very efficient for us. We got a little out of shape just after the two goals. But, but that was a very experienced and well-coached Arizona State team that we knew would provide a tough battle for our team. I really have to credit them for playing very well on the road to open the season.

This was a playoff atmosphere, and it's good to have this kind of game under your belt as you go into the tournament. Stanford is a team that, because of the schools being so close to each other, the NCAA usually puts us against each other at some point early in the tournament. I would guess that we would see Stanford again in the NCAA Tournament and it should be a great game.