George Washington University

Nov. 12, 2004

The GW men's soccer squad advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship final on Friday, Nov. 12 by besting top-seeded Duquesne in penalty kicks. Following the contest, senior co-captain Matt Miller sat down to talk about the Colonials' remarkable run to the title game.

On GW's semifinal match versus Duquesne:
"It was a great game. It turned out to be a pretty even game. I thought we knew from the beginning that we weren't going to lose at home and we came in knowing that the game was ours if we played well. We went down, 1-0, on a questionable penalty kick, but we went in at halftime and regrouped. We started again and believed we could come back and we did."

On GW's eight-game unbeaten streak:
"Basically, after the Duquesne game (on Oct. 15) we were very disappointed because we were losing. We thought we should have beaten a lot of the teams we had played. Then at St. Bonaventure (on Oct. 17), the starting lineup was all upper classmen and we got together before the game started and said `We can't let this season slip away. We have to take care of business' and from then on things started happening for us. Some of the freshmen started to step up and everyone felt more comfortable with their roles and now we are in the A-10 final."

On facing Temple in the title match:
"It's going to be a good game. They are a good team, very strong. Their goalie (Patrick Hannigan) is the two-time Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, but we beat them once this year. We know how they play and if we come out and play our game I think we have good chance to win."

On the fan support GW has received as the tournament's host:
"It has been great. My little cheering section comes from a lot of my friends. They love the game as much as we do. They supported the team when we were losing. When we started to win they got more excited and now that we are in the final everyone is just going crazy. No one can really believe it, but every game more people have come out to support us. The fans have been awesome."

On what it would mean to win the Atlantic 10 title and advance to the NCAA Tournament:
"It's an amazing feeling to be where we are right now, but winning it would be 10 times better because I'm a captain and I want my captainship to mean something. I love this team so much and we've worked so hard to get here. Losing on Sunday would be real disappointing."

The A-10 title tilt between fourth-seeded GW and third-seeded Temple is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. at the GW-Mount Vernon Athletic Complex on Sunday, Nov. 14.