DAYTON (OH) — On an evening when a pole of lights at Baujan Field went dark, the Dayton Flyers were lights out on the field as host UD hammered the #6 seed Charlotte 49ers 4-0 on a rainy and cold night of A10 Tourney soccer. All four tallies were in the first half as UD advances to the semifinals against #2 seed Richmond on Friday evening. Dayton improves to 17-3 while the Niners end their season at 7-10-4.

Sometimes the start of a match is indicative of what transpires over the course of 90 minutes, but that wasn’t the case Thursday night as Dayton got off to a slow start but followed it up with an explosion of top-notch soccer.

Just before kickoff, the light tower on the southeast side of the field went dark and remained dark for the remainder of the match. The Niners got out of the gate quickly however and moved forward in their offense toward the dimly-lit side of Baujan Field. UD struggled to clear the ball away or generate possession, resulting in a flurry of Niner crosses and corner kicks that forced Dayton to stay sharp in the penalty box.

As soon as Dayton countered on their first real offensive chance of the first half however, the Flyers almost hit paydirt. After a counter-attack caught the Charlotte back line flat-footed, freshman Kelsey Smigel rifled a shot past the Niner goalkeeper from the top of the box that hit the far post and bounced away. From there, the only offensive fireworks of the night would come at the feet of Dayton.

It wasn’t long before UD started to gain more possession — both out of the back and through the midfield. The Flyer strikers did a terrific job of once again making themselves available as target players. Colleen Williams and Smigel asked for service, and usually got it. Better yet, both players made something happen once the ball was fed. They weren’t alone however in the quality run of play. Midfielders provided quality overlaps when they weren’t serving balls to the weak side. The Dayton back line played organized among each other and teamed up well with the target players they provided service to.

About 25 minutes into the first half, the Flyers were working as a complete unit and playing some of their best soccer of the entire season. As the rain came down harder and the field became wetter, Dayton’s level of play only got better. Terrific touches of the ball to teammates opened up space, mostly from one-touch passing, flicks, and re-directs that took advantage of Flyer players open in space.

Up top, Williams had one of her best halfs of the season, acting as a battering ram and running through players like the vintage Willy of September. Combined with Smigel up top, their physical play caused issues for the Niner defensive line and caused miscues just by their consistent pressure and willingness to run after the ball.

The quality play finally paid off in the 32nd minute when Emily Kenyon played a terrific free kick out of the back that Smigel played well and the Charlotte defender did not. Behind the last defender, Smigel dialed up a textbook chip over the charging Niner goalkeeper from 18 yards out that found an unguarded net for the 1-0 Flyer lead. Smigel made it look much easier than it was.

The goal started an 11-minute flurry that produced the best soccer of the entire season — at least on offense. Dayton was as sharp as a tack and moved the ball around with the precision of a Swiss watch. Three minutes later, Juliana Libertin cleaned up a deflection off the crossbar with a header for the 2-0 lead.

While down 2-0, the Niners still had an hour of soccer to climb back in it. Less than a minute later however, Smigel broke Charlotte’s back with an All-American finish for the 3-0 lead in the 36th minute. Taking a Williams feed in the middle of the field, Smigel cracked a perfect strike near the top of the box that tucked inside the left post and past the diving mitts of Niner goalkeeper Alex Kubrick. The floodgates were officially open and Dayton was rolling.

Williams scored the last goal of the half in the 43rd minute after a deflection redirected to the far post for the 4-0 lead. Up big at halftime, the Flyers outshot Charlotte 14-3 while UD was out-cornered 3-2. In many respects, it could have been worse for the 49ers: another Dayton shot was cleared off the line to go along with Smigel’s early strike off the post.

The match was all but over and the Niners were shell-shocked at what happened in the prior 45 minutes. A talented side with good size and athleticism, Charlotte has mysteriously underachieved in 2011. The game notes suggested another hard-fought match down to the wire like so many prior matches in the competitive series among the two schools. But it wasn’t to be.

While the Flyers weren’t quite as sharp in the second half, they had several other great chances to add more goals. Dayton hit the post, Williams missed a penalty kick, and a few other balls squirted through the box without a striker there to finish things off. Defensively, Dayton made some substitution and lineup changes to preserve the legs of several players for Friday night’s match against Richmond.

Kelsey Miller sat the second half as Libertin once again moved into a central defensive role. Kathleen Beljan also played sparingly in the final 45 minutes as Chelsea Rose, Meghan Scharer, and Allison Klinefelter split up minutes in the back line.

In the midfield, Stephanie Emery got extended minutes to spare Alexis Garcia. Sarah Senoyuit also played less than a half at defensive mid. Up top, Smigel and Williams both left the game mid-way through the second half. The only downside was a yellow card issued to Williams for dissent.

Despite the substitutions, the Flyers continued to dominate over the final 45 minutes — though the textbook precision of the first half was not quite there. The defense gave up more possession on shaky clearances, but never truly buckled and Jordin Melchert’s evening between the pipes was a relatively routine performance with few heroics needed to preserve the clean sheet.

By match end, Dayton had scored on four of their best chances of the night with impeccable finishing, missed out on three or four more scoring chances, and rested just enough key players to do it all over again tomorrow night. In some respects, UD was unlucky; it could have been a 7-1 final score.

Charlotte out-shot Dayton 10-8 in the second half and took the lone corner kick of the final 45 minutes.

Everyone played well and that’s precisely why Dayton looked so formidable for much of the evening. The forwards played physical and made themselves large targets for quality service, while the midfielders fought hard for loose balls and possession in the middle third. In the back line, things were organized and everyone played the angles to perfection.

Kenyon once again had a great showing in the defense. Beljan did equally well on the left side. The Flyers got a huge lift from the play of Emery in the midfield. She used her size and broad shoulders to not only win loose balls but shield possession from defenders to maintain the attack.

Dayton moves on to the A10 semifinals Friday evening against #2 seed Richmond. The Spiders received a quarterfinal bye and should be fresh for the match, but the Flyers are playing extremely well and looking to avenge a 1-0 loss earlier in the season. LaSalle, the #1 seed of the tourney, plays UMass in the first game of the doubleheader. UMass beat St. Bonaventure 3-1 Thursday afternoon.

Let’s hope the Baujan Field lighting is fixed, but UD is still lights out on the field.