Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Sporting Director & Head Coach Frank Yallop
On the win:
“Very happy. It’s been a long stretch of away games, to finally get to play in front of fans in our stadium was really good. I thought the guys performed really well. They could’ve come out a bit nervous if you think about it, so for me I am really happy with the performance and to get that win. We should’ve probably scored a couple more goals, but we hung in there and got the win and that’s the most important thing. It was a good game.”
On what this match means going forward:
“It’s a start, we can build on this. We have another game next weekend at home, right here. It’s going to be a tough game, every game in the West is basically a tough game. But I thought we performed well. I thought we were organized, we defended very well. We limited a lot of chances. This Las Vegas team has scored a lot of goals this year and we limited their chances. I also thought we created some good chances to score. We didn’t quite take them, but we got the one. Walmer [Martínez] scored a hell of a goal to win the game for us and I’m not sure there’s a better story for us to start our home stretch.”
On the difference between the first three matches and the previous three:
“Healthy players. I don’t get many chances to explain what is happening when we have a bunch of guys injured and out and suspended for whatever reasons. I don’t like to make excuses, but we were light on players in those games. In the other games we’ve had this season away from home where we were fully loaded, we competed. I just spoke to Las Vegas’ coach, I worked with him in Vegas, and he said that we’ve been unlucky in a lot of the games that we’ve had. We could’ve been sitting on three wins, win tonight and then we’re sitting at the middle or near the top of the table. But I’m not too worried about the table. I’m worried about performances. We just want to entertain the fans here at home. We want to make sure that we’re on the front foot to make sure that it’s an enjoyable game to watch, and obviously winning is key.”
Goalkeeper Carlos Herrera
On the clean sheet:
“Today was my pro debut, my first ever professional game. To have it be the home opener, the first home win, first shutout in club history, especially to do it in front of these fans, they were electric, and having my whole family here for my first-ever game, it was literally a thing of dreams. I couldn’t have asked for a better game. I am ecstatic.”
On his big save late in the match:
“I knew it. There’s always one. You could see nothing for 89, 90 minutes, but the keeper is going to have to make one save. And it might have to be a blinder, so I was mentally prepared. Come the 65th, 70th minute, I was thinking to myself ‘OK, we’re up one zero and they are going to have one chance.’ I knew they were going to come forward with everything they have, they were going to get one. I was prepared, and thank God I made the save.”
On the difference it made being at home:
“It’s all fun and games to be on the road, travel, see new places, but it’s exhausting. It’s not like we’re out on vacation, it’s business. You travel there and back within three days, it’s exhausting. You don’t sleep in your own bed, the food that you normally would, so it’s definitely a process. The ability to be in your own house, eat whatever you normally eat, do your own pregame things. Then on top of that, it’s our home opener. How do you not get up for that? There was no way that we weren’t going to come out guns blazing and give it everything we’ve got. And it showed, I am so happy for the group. We definitely needed this. It’s good for belief going forward. I’ve never doubted that we have a good group, we’ve had a lot of injuries. This is probably the healthiest we’ve been in a while, so I had a very good feeling about tonight and I was right.
Midfielder Walmer Martínez
On the win:
“It’s an amazing feeling, especially to have all of my family here. It couldn’t have been any better, it’s just amazing. I can’t even describe it. I saw an opening in the goal, took a shot and it went in. So I’m super happy about that and I’m glad that I did it in front of the fans. They deserve it, they deserved this win, we owed it to them and I’m super stoked about it.”
On the goal:
“It was just one of those things. I looked up to see if I had anyone, and I didn’t have anyone but the open goal so I thought to myself I’m going to take it and I stuck it.”
On playing here at a professional level:
“I played here for the university on their fields, and it’s our first game here at this new stadium. I’m just happy because I had a lot of old teammates here, a whole community that supports me, and I’m glad to be able to make history with the first goal here in this stadium. I’m honestly super happy about that.”
