DAYTON (OH) -- A breakaway goal in the 89th minute ended a scoreless match and earned the Dayton Flyers a nip-and-tuck 1-0 victory over the St. Joseph's Hawks Friday evening at Baujan Field. Senior Josie Grant took advantage of a poor clearance to chase down a deflection and serve the gimme to an unmarked Kelsey Smigel directly in front of the net. Smigel's calm finish past the goalkeeper lifted UD to 13-3 (4-2) on the season, while
SJU falls to 6-6-4 (1-3-2).
The chilly temperatures didn't keep the fans away as UD marketing geniuses gave out 200 soccer scarves before kickoff to help provide a home field advantage and some added warmth around the neck.
With 547 fans looking on, the question of the hour was which Flyer team would show up and get down to brass tacks. Suffering through a month-long malaise, Dayton did reasonably well in the opening minutes to bury the bad karma. Working diligently to win balls in the middle third and attach runs down the sidelines, the Flyers put solid pressure on the SJU back line. Unfortunately, the last 25 yards of offense suffered from bad touches and inconsistent challenges when loose balls presented opportunities to cash in on the garbage in the mixer.
Dayton created a number of good first half chances -- those chances being possession and space where good things should materialize. The inability to make the Hawks pay however by leveraging field position and open teammates kept UD's offense from finding the back of the net -- nevermind placing quality shots on goal.
Defensively, UD wasn't sitting on their hands. St. Joseph's had their best scoring chances on counter-attacks or in situations where Dayton played poor clearances or passes out of the back. Flyer goalkeeper Jordin Melchert had a number of balls in the box to organize her defense around. For the most part, Dayton cleaned up the Hawk scoring chances and avoided the disastrous give-aways.
By the last 10 minutes of the half, SJU had more success disrupting UD's offense -- mostly from stepping into the passing lanes or digging out 50/50 balls in areas of the field where the Flyers should have capitalized.
By halftime, UD owned a 7-3 advantage in shots while corner kicks were one each.
On stats alone, the Flyers had a much better second half on offense, but many of the same opportunities went wasted -- some of them being the best scoring chances all night. Dayton threw a flurry of balls in the box over the next 30 minutes. Consisting of crosses, free kicks, and corner kicks, nobody could find the end of a well-served ball and finish at the net. Hawk goalkeeper Lauren Jancuska saved two of the best shots on frame, though UD was unlucky as the quality shots were hit directly into her hands.
St. Joseph's almost scored mid-way through the second half on a breakaway at midfield, but a retreating Flyer defense poked the ball away as SJU entered the box ready to fire on goal.
Later in the second half, the Flyers gained more possession and forced SJU to fall into a temporary bunker. The finish work was never sharp however. Six second half corner kicks went wasted as well and as the last 10 minutes played out, the first goal would likely win the match for either side.
Senior Alexis Garcia was a pivotal, though indirect influence on the Flyers winning possession and ultimately scoring. Winning balls in the air and holding possession with solid footwork, Garcia kept UD on the offensive. As a result, the Hawks were forced to boot a lot of goal kicks -- many of them woefully short and unable to relieve pressure on their back line. While UD didn't do a great job of recognizing the weak spot, they did just enough.
SJU finally succumbed to the pressure when a poor clearance hit senior Josie Grant in the body, bouncing behind the defender for Grant to run directly onto. Behind her defender, Grant carried possession inside the penalty box and saw teammate Kelsey Smigel making an unmarked run directly in front of the net. Grant slotted a ball to Smigel on the counter and the sophomore finished the relatively easy opportunity to the low post for the 1-0 lead in the 89th minute. Game. Set. Match.
Or so fans thought. The Hawks mounted a finally rally after the re-start and had a 10-person scrum directly in front of the Flyer box that caught the defense in desperation mode -- and Jordin Melchert in no-mans-land attempting to battle through the pile of players to corral possession herself. After a couple shots were blocked by Flyer defenders, UD managed to finally clear the ball away and salt the match away.
UD out-shot SJU 20-9 and out-cornered the Philly natives 7-2.
The Flyers never figured out how to finish what they started all evening. Like a golfer that aces the first few holes but falls apart on the back nine, UD's touches near the box were downright debilitating at times. In many cases, players made quality runs on goal, beat a defender, and needed just one more decent touch to find a payoff. Those touches were absent all evening however and handicapped the offense because of it.
Dayton also gave up too much possession in the midfield when field position or numbers advantages suggested a stiff tackle would change the entire tenor. An exception to that however was Garcia's quality play in the middle. Oftentimes giving up six inches to taller players, she nevertheless won balls out of the air or dug out possession on the ground with regularity.
Juliana Libertin once again gave a hard-fought effort on the offensive flanks, though her final touches of the ball when reaching the Hawk box probably kept the Flyers from scoring two or three more goals.
Perhaps most overlooked and forgotten continues to be the play of senior defender Emily Kenyon. Kenyon's contributions on the field are not what stats and boxscores are made for, but her ability to snatch Flyer salvation from the jaws of disaster are as much a reason for UD's success this year as any other defender or goal scorer. On a couple of occasions Friday evening, she chased down open defenders streaking toward goal like they were standing in concrete. Because of that, she's probably the team MVP at this point in the season.
Dayton gets back at it on Sunday afternoon against the
Temple Owls.
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