DAYTON (OH) — Baujan Field withstood a quagmire two weekends ago, but couldn’t hold up to another onset of rain Friday night, forcing the Flyer women’s soccer team to move a home match with Rhode Island to Fieldturf at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia. No problem. Dayton scored twice in the second half to send the Rammies packing and improve to 11-0-5 (7-0-1) on the season — one of just two unbeatens remaining in Division I (Stanford). Rhode Island falls to 4-11-1 (2-6).

The Flyers have struggled over the years in conference road matches at venues with an artificial surface, but the small crowd on hand wouldn’t have guessed it by the way UD performed Friday evening. Besides the inherent high bounces and skips associated with the fake grass, the wet surface provided even more of a challenge. Head Coach Mike Tucker’s team never looked overwhelmed, moving the ball extremely well from the opening whistle.

The first 15 minutes of the match were played in the URI defensive half of the field. Senior forward Lauren MacCormick did a nice job of playing target forward as teammates looked for her presence to play balls to her feet from 25 yards out. As she distributed to the wings or overlapping players, the Flyers pushed forward and found seams in the Ram defense for quality scoring chances.

Mandi Back roamed free on a couple of occasions and UD placed several good crosses in the box, but shots on goal lacked the quality they needed to be. Still, Rhode Island goalkeeper Tara Murphy gave Dayton some hope. She wasn’t sure-handed and bobbled a few balls in front of the net, nearly costing her team once or twice.

Rhody countered offensively with long balls toward their speedy forwards — forwards that gave the Flyer back line some trouble. Fortunately, UD’s outside fullback tandem of Allison Giner and Kathleen Beljan possess speed of their own and did a nice job of sticking a toe in the attacking players to displace the dribble penetration.

The Flyers displayed better ball control and overall possession as the latter part of the first half played out. Quicker to the ball and showcasing better first touches, UD was able to work the ball upfield by keeping the rock on the fast surface, forcing Ram defenders to chase and retreat.

While the first half ended 0-0, UD looked like the better side and the stats proved that point. The Flyers outshot URI 12-3 and had five corner kicks to nil.

The second half was even better for Dayton fans, but one goal could change the match either way. If the Flyers were to protect their unbeaten record, they needed a goal in early in the second half to take control on the scoreboard as well. Tori Oelschlager obliged in the 51st minute with a terrific header from six yards out while crashing the goal. Kelly Blumenschein set her up perfectly with a pin-point cross from the left side about 25 yards out. Oelschlager timed her run perfectly and got behind the last defender to redirect it home for the 1-0 Dayton advantage.

Minutes later, Mandi Back timed her run even better and took a through ball from 30 yards out directly on goal for a one vs. one against the goalkeeper. Her apparent gimme went just wide however and the match remained 1-0.

Dayton’s domination of the playing surface however meant they ultimately dominated the second half. While the Rams were opportunistic and had a couple of dangerous chances to tie the game, the Flyer back line flexed but didn’t break as they have all season. Goalkeeper Katherine Boone was where she needed to be at all times, forcing URI to take some ambitious chances from long range that were not ideal.

The midfield continued to do a nice job of winning balls and laying off to a teammate for quick passes to the weak side players lurking on the touch line. With better spacing and quicker play, the Rams never could reverse the run of play and seize control. All of the persistence paid off in the 83rd minute when Giner finished off a flurry of activity in the box with a low shot to the far post from 15 yards out. A poor clear led to the Flyer goal, but Dayton had several good looks. The Rams were fortunate they didn’t cough up a goal seconds before Giner’s finish.

Her goal sealed the deal on the evening’s outcome and ensured Dayton’s unbeaten record on the season — at least for the timebeing. The Flyers had a couple more scoring chances including yet another one vs. one with the Ram goalkeeper, but couldn’t put it away. UD’s back line worked hard over the last six minutes to earn the shutout.

For the match, UD out-shot URI 21-8 and earned six corner kicks to just three for the Rams. The midfield deserves a lot of the credit for the win, winning loose balls, playing quickly, and displaying quality first touches to keep URI on their heels. From there, the forwards found room to maneuver while the back line did what they’ve done all season — protect the goal mouth. Considering the last-minute venue change and wet/windy weather conditions to deal with, the Flyers showed a lot of moxie by taking it in stride and punching their time card. The best endorsement of their hard work came from the ejection of Rhode Island Head Coach Zac Shaw. Shaw took exception to several Ram fouls on the evening, but never seemed to take exception to his players getting beat to the ball by a harder-working Dayton team. Besides the pair of one vs. one scoring opportunities that were gagged away, Dayton did almost everything else right.

Field conditions permitting, Dayton hosts UMass at 1pm Sunday afternoon at Baujan Field.