DAYTON (OH) — The UD Women’s Soccer team completed a sweep to the opening weekend of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Toledo Rockets. A goal in each half proved to be the difference as the Flyers improve to 2-0-0 while Toledo suffers their first loss of the season (1-1-0).

As the match started, fans in attendance were treated to a battle of two Ohio teams attempting to prove themselves after a solid result on Friday. Dayton needed double overtime to slip past Butler while the Rockets capitalized on a PK in extra time to outlast Purdue in West Lafayette. From Dayton’s perspective, the Rockets were a significant upgrade in talent over the Bulldogs and finding success would necessitate a step up in play.

With the first half underway, UD made the transition fairly well, improving upon the speed of play, tactics, and attitude compared to Friday night. The Rockets possessed good speed, soccer IQ, and coaching to give the Flyers added trouble, but Dayton responded well early on.

Each team had moments where the offense threatened the goal mouth, in large part to quality touches in the midfield that linked up teammates and opened the field as others moved forward. Back and forth both teams went as neither side had command of the possession. Rather, momentum shifted every few minutes to keep the defenses on their toes.

The Flyers capitalized first in the 24th minute when Tori Oelschlager got around her defender along the left side and flicked a quality pass to Colleen Williams further inside the box. Williams collected the pass and slotted it past Rocket goalkeeper Vicki Traven from 8yds out to put Dayton ahead 1-0. Williams had another terrific chance from the same spot a few minutes later after cutting against the grain and opening up space for a shot on goal, but to Traven’s credit she had it covered.

UD finished the last 20 minutes of the half much like they started it, choosing their moments to push players forward while remaining keenly aware of Toledo’s own ability to counter-attach and catch the Flyers napping. Much of the play was fairly even. Both sides failed to cash in on strong scoring chances near the goal mouth. By halftime, the Flyers held an 8-4 edge in shots while corner kicks were two a piece.

Nothing changed in the second half from a competitive standpoint. Both sides took turns controlling tempo and doing their best to knock on the door of the goal mouth. As the match continued, the temperature kept rising and started to affect fitness. While UD went 17 deep, the Rockets substituted like a hockey squad, running 20 players in and out before it was all over.

As the game continued, it looked more apparent that one goal might not win the match. Dayton found some breathing room in the 63rd minute when Williams collected a ball on the right end line and floated a perfect cross to the far post. Alexis Garcia headed it in from two yards out despite the goalkeeper covering the near post directly on front of her. Unable to react in time to Garcia’s low header, the goal put the Rockets down 2-0.

UD had a couple more outstanding chances to score in the second half, including a couple great feeds to the weak side as unmarked Flyers raced toward the box, but the finishing wasn’t sharp enough.

Things were looking fantastic until Toledo got on the scoreboard three minutes later with a corner kick-header combination inside the six yard line to cut the deficit to 2-1. Over the final 20 minutes, the Rockets ramped up their substitutions off the bench to keep players fresh and wear the Flyers down. That strategy almost worked as UD struggled to find their legs over the final 20 minutes. Fatigue set in as key players needing to remain on the field ran out of gas in the final minutes, allowing Toledo to threaten in the offensive half of the field. Goalkeeper Katherine Boone made her first start of the season and came up huge on a leaping save from six yards out to stop a dangerous chip shot.

The Flyers kept it together just long enough to hold on for the important victory; had the match gone to overtime, who knows how much gas might have been left in the tank. To UD’s credit however, the players that were asked to play heavy minutes in the second half gutted it out and got the job done. By match end, Dayton out-shot Toledo 13-9.

Dayton took a step forward on Sunday after their season-opening win against Butler on Friday evening. Toledo was superior to Butler in all phases and should win a lot of games in the Mid-American Conference this season. What the Rockets lacked in dynamic playmaking from individual players, they made up for it in similar ways the Flyers tend to exploit their own strengths and weaknesses. The two teams were alike in a lot of areas, and it was a good test to finish off the opening weekend. Unlike Friday night when UD had 15-20 minutes of good soccer, UD came up with 70 minutes on Sunday — against better competition. The coaching staff should feel pretty good about that.

The Flyers are still a work in progress, but did what all staffs ask for in the opening weekend: win each match and get better from the first game to the second. That’s what UD soccer fans witnessed and there are reasons for optimism if the progress continues.

Sophomore Colleen Williams finished the weekend with a contribution on all three goals (2 goals, 1 assist) and is asserting herself just as we had hoped. Expect an A10 Player of the Week award for her efforts. Williams is turning into the go-to player on offense and possesses UD’s best chance to threaten the nets. Prep All-American Juliana Libertin is making strides as well as a freshman in the offense. As her strength and tempo catch up to collegiate standards, so too will her ability to stretch opposing defenses and make something happen.

UD flies the friendly skies to Colorado Springs next weekend for a pair of matches against Colorado College and the Air Force Academy. Colorado College is a strong program and should be a challenge. If Dayton can come out of the Rockies with two wins, it would set up the remainder of the non-conference schedule rather nicely.