Alex is a great leader on this team — practicing very hard every day without the promise of playing time. He's a very good shooter and everybody on our team respects his work ethic and I'm delighted he took advantage of the opportunity he was given tonight.

The thing we have to understand is that Alex was in the homeland, playing for a professional team over there, he was in training camp and was earning a substantial amount of money. So the decision was not easy for him. But he wanted to come to Washington. He's a terrific young man who is going to be here for a long time.

The thing we have to understand is that Alex was in the homeland, playing for a professional team over there, he was in training camp and was earning a substantial amount of money,

That's just the kind of girl Meredith is. She's a team leader, a girl who works hard all the time and leads by example, and (senior) Chelsea Peters is another one. She's willing to do whatever we ask of her. She's a long jumper and she runs on some of our relays, and this year she's trying the high jump for the first time, too.

The core of this team cares. They're playing hard.

Graham Polak playing his very best football is very important for the team.