Nov. 17, 2003
Lafayette College President Arthur Rothkopf:
Addressing the team:
"I just want to express my congratulations for a terrific season and a great win on Sunday. We're very proud of you and we know you'll do very well in this next round. I know it's been a long season and it's had a very happy conclusion. Congratulations on winning the league championship and I know it's particularly sweet that you did defeat Lehigh on Sunday - I bet you felt pretty good about it. Good luck as you go along. We'll be watching it very closely. Congratulations again."
Head coach Dennis Bohn:
On Rutgers:
"Rutgers is a really talented program. Coach Reasso has a great tradition there of talented players and successful teams. We're just going to go there and fight like we always fight and be competitive and we'll see what happens."
On the benefit of having nine seniors in the starting lineup:
"I think the idea of going into a tournament game with the nine seniors and the experience is going to allow us to have some more success than with a younger team that might be a little more nervous. I don't think our guys are going to be nervous. If anything I think they're going to be excited to be there. I think the pressure is going to be on Rutgers as the host and as the higher seed so our kids are just going to go there, relax, have some fun and see what happens."
On the team's sense of urgency to win a championship:
"That was definitely our goal. We knew we had the talent and experience to win a championship this year. Now that we've won a championship, I think that sense of urgency that helped us get there is going to help us be more of a relaxed team, though I wouldn't want to play us. We're very tough, very competitive and I know they're going to show up ready to play."
Senior goalkeeper Jay Freedman:
On finally winning a championship:
"After our freshman year a lot of guys in this class had the opportunity to play in the tournament. It was a great season but unfortunately we lost. It's great that we have this chance to win a championship. The league didn't believe in us; we were picked fifth in the preseason. But we really felt that we were the best team this year. We were very confident with nine seniors starting that we had a very good chance. Our last four games we've just been playing awesome. The last four games, all against league teams, we've scored 12 goals and only given one up. We're really confident about the way we're playing and really happy. It's just an amazing feeling finally after four years, after what everyone's been through, it's great to win a championship. Coach told us that any player that's ever been at Lafayette since we've been in the Patriot League has won a championship, so to get that fifth title was just an awesome feeling."
On the matchup with Rutgers:
"I'm really looking forward to next weekend. Rutgers is a good team and there will be a great turnout. A lot of people from this school and a lot of people from home will be coming to watch us."
On his solid play down the stretch:
"However good my play it is, I give all the credit to my defense. They're amazing. Our team's played really well. I've done my part. These last two games in the championship I had solid games but the defense never put me in a position where I had to be the hero. I just had to play my role. Tommy (Wajda) and (Andrew) Cottrell are amazing in the middle and just hold everything there and our two outside backs, Nathan (Jolly) and Nick (Caiella), are also awesome and they're good at creating offense too. I couldn't ask for four better guys to be in front of me holding the team together."
Senior defender Tom Wajda:
On the seniors coming together to win a championship:
"We didn't get it done last year and we thought we could do it last year. This year we've been together for three years now and everyone just wanted it so badly. It just makes it so much sweeter to finally do it. It's a story-book ending almost just waiting four years and finally winning it."
On the excitement of playing Rutgers:
"It's exciting just being in the tournament. Personally, I lived at Rutgers this summer so I hung out with a bunch of the players and the team. A bunch of our players are from New Jersey and know a lot of the players at Rutgers as well. It's near some guys' hometowns so there's going to be a lot of people there. It's just a lot of excitement being in the tournament. We've never been in an environment like this. This is just great."
On head coach Dennis Bohn:
"He recruited all nine of us seniors. He's almost like a father to us now just because we've been here since he's been the head coach and it's just been a great experience. It's his first championship as a head coach and it's my first championship ever, in anything."
Senior forward Jamie Mullarkey:
On playing at Rutgers:
"It's really good for the lads, we have a bunch from New Jersey and it will be good for them to get to go home and play. For me, it's just nice to be in the NCAA's."
On winning the Patriot League championship:
"It was really great for the seniors because we got beat by Lehigh our freshman year in the Patriot League Championships. It's always good to beat Lehigh in any game, but to beat them in the championship was just great. Also, to beat Holy Cross 5-1 in the semifinals. Holy Cross has always been a tough game, so to beat them was nice as well."
On his expectations for the tournament:
"Let's go shock someone. It would be nice to beat Rutgers, but we just have to take it as it comes. Whatever the next game we lose is, it's the last one of the season, so we just have to go out there and throw everything at it. No other team in Division I works as hard as we do, so we just need to go do it."
