The Dayton Flyers took care of the Duquesne Dukes Friday night by a score of 5-1 on a rain-soaked Baujan Field, improving the team record to 14-2 (7-1). Five different players scored for Dayton who took a 1-0 halftime lead and blew things open in the second half. Only a Duquesne penalty kick kept GK Steph Weisenfeld from notching her 10th shutout on the season. Duquesne falls to 5-10-1 (1-6-1).

The Dukes were in trouble from the opening kickoff as Dayton took control of the match, control they never really gave up for the 90 minutes that followed. Duquesne, tied for last place in the Atlantic-10, came into the game outmatched at nearly every position on the field and it was readily apparent. While both sides were giving a good effort, there’s nothing even the best effort can do to overcome sheer ability and that’s where Dayton tried to punish the opposing side. Knowing her team was outclassed, Dukes Head Coach Dawn Crow employed a dangerous tactic of running the offside trap by the defensive line, hoping to catch the Flyers napping and unable to thread a ball through the defense that wouldn’t draw the lineman’s flag. For the better part of the first half it actually worked as Dayton tallied seven offsides before halftime.

The Flyers sent numerous long balls from the midfield and back line in an attempt to catch a Flyer front-runner on the fast break just as Duquesne attempted the offside trap. On a couple of occasions the Dukes were burned and UD managed to attack the goal with breakaways, but some shaky finishing kept Duquesne from being down by two or three goals just minutes after the match began. To Dayton’s credit however, they kept hammering away and soon enough it paid off. As she’s done many times this year, Liz Brown made an offensive move toward goal, fought through a couple defenders, and bullied the ball into the net. The goal gave Dayton a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute and took the edge off as nobody likes to keep an inferior opponent thinking if they hang on just a little longer that it could be a night ripe for an upset. That wasn’t going to happen because the Flyers continued to dominate after Brown’s goal, and finished up the first half with 10 shots to just one for Duquesne. All things considered, the Dukes were lucky to be down just 1-0. Better finishing of some easy shots would have all but ended things before halftime. As it turned out, UD made the most of their chances after intermission to blow things wide open.

What happened in the second half was refreshing and a little bizarre all at the same time. While Dayton had trouble putting away the easy ones in the first half, they had no trouble finding the back of the net on some incredible shots in the final 45 minutes — perhaps the best pure goals fans have seen all year. Defender Jen Simonetti pounced on a cross in the 50th minute and buried a header into the back of the net from 3yds out to get things cooking. Just six minutes later, senior Lindsey Whitehead performed Act I Scene II by burying a header of her own from 6yds out to make the score 3-0. Just 16 seconds later it was 4-0 Flyers when junior Beth McHugh sent a narrow-angled shot from 20yds out on the right side that found the side netting at the far post. As fast as those 16 seconds were, Duquesne tallied a goal of their own just 15 seconds later when Dayton was whistled for a foul in the box that resulted in a Katie Schwager penalty kick. To recap, that was three goals in 31 seconds.

With the score 4-1, Duquesne actually picked up the pace a bit and finally got some offense going, but at the same time, Head Coach Mike Tucker worked in several players off the bench who were anxious to get some action — freshmen Gretchen Echelbarger, Alicija Bredlo, and others. All told, 21 Flyers made it into the match. Dayton added their final goal in the 86th minute on another incredible shot, this time by Sedlacek who buried one from long distance at a severe angle — similar to McHugh’s goal. While the Flyers may have missed a couple easy ones, they put away their share of top-notch strikes as well, and the 5-1 victory was a fair result for both sides.

Freshman Jacqueline Luehrs continues to play very well at left back. She’s learning to use her speed very well when pushing forward offensively, and has already proven to be pesky on defense. Luehrs is making a strong case for the soon-to-be announced A-10 All Rookie team at the end of the year — as is Sedlacek. Brown had another solid game at striker, but that’s been the case all year and little should change as UD heads into the home stretch of the regular season and into the A-10 tournament. Freshman Katie Lowstuter sat out Friday’s match, serving a one-game suspension for receiving a red card (two yellows) in the prior match.

Dayton was caught offside 11 times against Duquesne, further indicating how hard the Dukes tried to run the offside trap. It remains to be see how effective it was as they still managed to give up five goals. In all, the Flyers outshot them 24-11 and had a 8-5 advantage in corner kicks. GK Steph Weisenfeld had to step out of the goal mouth and steer a few crosses out of danger but needed just four saves to keep the Dukes scoreless in the field of play.

The Flyers return to action on Sunday for the regular season home finale against St. Bonaventure. It will be senior day for five players: Liz Brown, Shannon Kuhl, Steph Weisenfeld, Lindsey Whitehead, and Clare Quinter. The Bonnies may have tired legs as their match with Xavier on Friday was postponed until Saturday due to unplayable field conditions in Cincinnati. Fans will also see Dayton in action at least one more time at home as they are certain to quality for the A-10 Tournament hosted at Baujan Field.