DAYTON (OH) — When Head Coach Mike Tucker shows up in a shirt and tie, it’s a pretty big deal. The same can be said for Dayton beating a Top-25 opponent on their home field, which is exactly what they did — in dramatic fashion Thursday evening in the home opener for the Flyers.

Freshman Ashley Campbell cleaned up a corner kick at the far post with 40 seconds remaining to top #19 Boston University 2-1 in 2OT. Dayton improves to 2-1 while the Terriers suffer their first loss of the season (2-1). The match was televised nationally on the Fox Soccer Channel.

With an overflow crowd of over 2,700 fans converging on Baujan Field for an organized “White Out”, the turnstiles were on fire as UD set a home attendance record (men or womens) by over 500 fans.

The match itself couldn’t have started any better. Alysha Mallon’s corner kick just 2:32 into the match tucked just inside the far post to give the Flyers an early 1-0 advantage.

Already playing with the lead, UD was in the best of all possible situations and had the Terriers a bit shell-shocked at their early deficit. Over the next 15 minutes, Dayton did well to get forward and put additional pressure in Boston’s defensive half of the field. Juliana Libertin gave great effort on the right touch lines to stretch the defense, though she had trouble completely turning the corner as she’s accustomed. On the left side, Colleen Williams and Mallon pushed forward and had space on several occasions to challenge defenders one-on-one.

A great baseline turn by Williams and subsequent feed to the front of the box nearly resulted in a second Dayton goal, but Terrier goalkeeper Andrea Green made a terrific reflex save to push the point-blank shot over the crossbar. The Flyers almost scored on another flurry at the far post, but couldn’t push the ball in.

As the first half continued however, Boston began asserting themselves and finding more space of their own — especially in the midfield. The midfield possession turned into balls played forward to strikers near the touch lines. Dayton’s defense was suddenly under consistent, albeit not catastrophic pressure and had to remain organized to turn balls away. The match slowly turned in the Terriers’ favor however as they gobbled up most of the loose balls and controlled possession. Conversely, Dayton lost form and had trouble connecting passes to work the ball up field.

As UD focused on defensive clearances, the Flyer attackers had trouble in the last 20 minutes of the first half tracking down long balls and making something positive of the ambitious service. Without any continuity to the play, most balls played forward lacked a purpose.

Much of the malaise however settled in the midfield and that would end up a large storyline of the second half. The Flyers did enough however to protect a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

Shots were 7-2 in favor of UD, helped in part by the terrific opening flurry. UD did well to keep Boston U. to just two shots in spite of their possession.

The second half was almost entirely in Boston U.’s favor as they controlled the midfield and won nearly all of the loose balls — both on the ground and in the air. That included most goal kicks and other long-ball service. Wide swaths of open space in the middle third of the field allowed the Terriers to get forward with numbers on multiple occasions, leaving the relatively new back line for the Flyers in compromising situations.

Unable to win the ball, Dayton did a lot of chasing. Marking was reminiscent of the exhibition against the Miami Hurricanes — non-existent in large stretches. Still, Dayton managed to keep a clean sheet in spite of the consistent pressure in their defensive half.

The match changed in the 67th minute when the Terriers cashed in from long distance with a 25yd chip to the far post that UD goalkeeper Jordin Melchert got a mitt on but couldn’t push over the crossbar. While Melchert should have done better with the attempted save, the trouble started in the midfield when UD offered up little resistance and allowed Boston to turn a loose ball into something positive.

The goal was a byproduct of the second half malaise and sooner or later the Flyers would pay for the lack of urgency. Having conceded the score, the next goal would likely win the match.

Williams worked hard up top and was very physical around the ball, even though her touches were always in a crowd with few options to dish or drive. Credit goes to Boston’s back line which countered Willy play-for-play all night and with solid one vs. one marking, didn’t have to poach another defender from elsewhere on the field every time she received the ball.

While the second half was mostly to Boston U.’s delight, one cannot overlook the body of work Juliana Libertin put forth along the right side of the field. She ran all night and the only thing that slowed her down was a lack of help by teammates offering up passing lanes to relieve the pressure. All of her hard work seemed to end in frustration at times as she had no choice but to take on two or three defenders when teammates failed to make runs into passing lanes to help her out.

Both sides had their chances to end the match in regulation, but none of the shots were high quality. Heading into overtime, the Flyers looked gassed.

Dayton dug down and played more inspired in overtime however, especially the second 10 minutes. Much of that credit goes to freshman Nicole Waters in the midfield. Waters accomplished more in the two overtimes than perhaps the rest of the midfield all evening, winning loose balls, throwing her physical frame around, picking off passes, and moving the ball forward with some legitimate urgency. Just when UD needed a spark, she stepped up.

Her teammates seemed to feed off the energy too. Everyone picked it up in the second overtime and the Flyers were suddenly the team to beat once again. Dayton put a number of balls into the Terrier goal box, but Boston was organized and thorough in their clearances.

With under 60 seconds remaining, Williams struck a low shot to the near post that went off the hands of the goalkeeper and earned a late corner kick. In what was in all likelihood the last hurrah of the match, Libertin took the corner from the right side, got a near-post flick from Sarah Senoyuit, and Campbell cleaned up the flick on the backside with a header from 4yds out to seal the dramatic win.

Overall UD outshot Boston U. 21-10, helped in large part to the first and last 10 minutes of the match. Corner kicks were 10-6 in favor of the Flyers.

Taken in the context of overall run-of play, the Flyers were a step below the Terriers for about 80 of 110 minutes. The difference was simple: Dayton started stronger and finished stronger. The good news is Dayton got an NCAA resume-building victory over a Top-25 program on national TV. The importance of the win cannot be overstated, especially for a team that’s nowhere near a complete product. The Terriers are an extremely solid team that refuses to make mistakes. In fact, their fullbacks might be the most talented group of defenders UD faces all season. They were good enough to mark Dayton’s prolific scoring trio effectively out of the game with solid one-on-one defending and an equal amount of physicality. It was a great battle all evening, but the Flyers found a pair of goals from other players on the field, which is what’s needed when the horses are bottled up.

The Flyers have a long journey still ahead of them and Thursday evening’s performance is probably not good enough to beat a handful of teams that remain on the schedule. In short, Dayton must get better and fast-track those improvements sooner rather than later. A few upperclassmen are struggling to provide a consistent level of energy, and at least two freshmen — Campbell and Waters — are primed to take over their minutes if their own trajectory continues.

But let’s not downplay the result at the expense of everything else: Dayton beat the #19 ranked team and winning big games like this when you’re nowhere near your best is a great sign of upside as the season continues. When its all said and done, Boston University will win their league and be in the NCAAs again at season end. Sending them home with a loss was a huge feather in the Flyer cap.

Dayton remains at home with a Sunday match against Northwestern. The Flyers squeaked one out in Evanston, IL, last season 2-1. Game time is 1pm.