The UD Women’s Soccer team extended their winning streak to four matches with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Rhode Island Rams on Sunday afternoon at Baujan Field.  Kyra Karfonta scored the lone goal of the match with a critical PK in the second half to undo Rhody and improve the Flyers to 10-3-0 (4-1-0). URI falls to 5-6-2 (2-3-0).

Sunny skies and comfortable temperatures made for perfect early autumn conditions as both teams looked to stay in the hunt for an A10 postseason bid mid-way through the conference schedule. The opening minutes of the first half favored Rhode Island as the Rams generated more possession and a more sustained push forward into the offensive half of the field.  Quicker to the ball and more assertive when countering from defense to offense, URI’s pace of play caused issues for the Flyers — issues that largely sustained over the entire 90 minutes of the match.  Early on, URI was in charge while Dayton was chasing the action.  Most of the play occurred in UD’s defensive half and while they were playing against a strong breeze that, at times, effected clearances and play out of the back, the lack of execution had more to do with URI’s speedier feet and stronger attacking posture.

Rhody appeared to take the lead on a goal in the first six minutes, but the linesmen raised his flag with an offside call to keep the match scoreless.  Dayton had trouble finding a decent groove throughout the next 20 minutes of play as URI made a habit of picking off UD passes and countering.  Pushing players forward and forcing the Flyer back line to defend for extended stretches, UD did well just to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0.  UD missed a golden opportunity to take the lead on a PK, but Diana Benigno’s attempt was saved by Ram goalkeeper Chelsea Mohammed. Dayton stepped it up in the last 15 minutes of the half with better possession and more purposeful passes that found feet rather than resorting to kick-and-run style tactics. The effort helped even out the stats, but the stats belied what eventually ended in a scoreless first 45 minutes dominated by the Rams in between the goal boxes.

Halftime stats slightly favored UD in shots 9-7 and corner kicks 6-5 even though the match felt more one-sided.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, UD fans were hopeful those conditions would help change the game’s momentum. That never really happened.  Rhody continued where they left off at halftime by once again leveraging faster feet and more assertive play to keep the ball away from the Flyers and limit dangerous attacks in their own defensive third.  The Flyers caught a break in the 51st minute when the Rams were whistled for another infraction inside their own box that resulted in a second Flyer PK attempt. It looked like a questionable decision by the referee and the URI coaching staff made it a point to voice their displeasure, but Kyra Karfonta took advantage and finished the opportunity to put Dayton ahead 1-0.

From there, both teams raised their level of play and it turned into a back-and-forth tug-of-war for long stretches as both sides found room to push forward and place dangerous balls in the box.  The next 20 minutes were probably Dayton’s best effort as they found more feet and committed fewer unforced turnovers in their defensive half — a problem up to that point due to weak clearances without a lot of purposeful intent.  The Flyers attacked from the touch lines and were able to knock quality service inside the URI goal box, but no one was able to finish and extend the lead.  Additional corner kicks also came and went without a conversion.

The Rams threw the kitchen sink at UD over the last 15 minutes of play by pushing forward and forcing the Flyers to chase and defend both down the middle and along the sidelines. Once again, URI’s quickness advantage was their best weapon, though to UD’s credit the back line never surrendered the kind of looks that could beat GK Batoul Reda. Reda was sharp all afternoon and had to be given URI’s consistent pressure. While she didn’t rack up a ton of spectacular saves, she commanded the box and cleaned up the dangerous loose balls. Her best moment came in the 87th minute when URI had their own PK to tie the match, but her dive to the lower right corner stuffed the attempt and preserved the slim Dayton lead. UD salted away the last three minutes to seal the victory.

Second half stats also favored UD. Shots were 5-4 while corner kicks were 4-1. It was a game where the eye test and boxscore didn’t necessarily see the match the same way however.  While the Flyers escaped with a 1-0 win, they needed a PK to do it and were largely outplayed for large stretches.  The lack of pace was an issue, but Maddie Bowman did what she could at times to give UD a chance to run down long balls in the offensive half of the field. Defensively, UD was solid with the exception of long-ball distribution that often found the feet of URI mids and fullbacks in the central third.  It wasn’t UD’s best performance and URI will remain a tough out if the two teams end up facing one another in the A10 postseason tournament. For now however, Dayton earned the bragging rights and another important conference victory with a month of soccer remaining. Sometimes victory must be achieved without rendering a Picasso.

Dayton travels to UMass next Sunday for a 1pm kickoff.

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