A red-hot first half of soccer was just enough to compensate for a cold second half as the Dayton Flyers secured their fifth win in a row with a 1-0 victory over the Duquesne Dukes. Junior Dara Elk scored the lone goal late in the first half before 650 hearty fans on a blustery and chilly night at Baujan Field. Dayton improves to 6-3-3 (4-0-0) and remains atop the A10 standings while Duquesne falls to 3-7-1 (2-2-0).

Flyer fans arrived at the Bau’ anxious to see the resurging team that has turned around the season after a 0-2-3 start. Not having lost in nearly a month, Dayton looked like a completely different unit at the start of Friday evening’s match — a much better unit doing many of the things that seemed to come so hard early in the year.

With the wind at their backs, UD pushed forward and played attacking soccer all over the pitch, running past Duquesne players for loose balls that resulted from a terrific work ethic early on. The best part came after the hustle as UD used the dribble to attack straight up the field and run past Duke defenders caught flat-footed and far off the pace.

Leading the charge were freshmen Mandi Back and Colleen Gibson. Back had a great singular effort midway through the first half after dribbling through several players and putting a shot on goal that nearly beat Duke goalkeeper Virginia Bondi from a difficult angle. Gibson abused the Duquesne midfield and back line for much of the half, carving them up like a hot knife through warm butter. She was nearly unstoppable when pressed to make things happen on her own and kept the Flyers in the offensive half of the field almost exclusively. Sophomore Amanda Gallow worked the right side of the field, using her speed advantage to cut inside defenders where open space prevailed in front of the 18yd line.

Touches everywhere on the field were of a very high order and players were on the same page despite being unable to find the back of the net. Dara Elk got into the act late in the half and ended up finishing off her best chance with a shot from 15yds out after cutting against the grain a pair of times to turn a defender a create space. Up 1-0 in the 41st minute, the Flyers were finally rewarded for their excellent play. Were it not for some better finishing at the tail end of all those great runs toward goal, it could have been worse. Dayton had the stat sheet to prove it, outshooting Duquesne 8-4 and 2-1 from the corner flag.

The second half was a different story however and as the tailwind turned into a nasty headwind, the wind from UD’s sails faded substantially as well. The final 45 minutes started off in good shape as UD tested the Dukes net from long distance. While most of the shots didn’t need a diving save, they were all quality strikes and well worth the effort to keep the Duquesne goalkeeper honest. The final 30 minutes of play turned against everything UD had going for them in the first half and some of that resulted from both sides taking advantage of the run of play with a wind-aided push at their back side.

Wind alone can’t take all of the blame as the Dukes did a nice job of utilizing quick counterattacks on punts to force 3 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 2 matchups with the Flyer defense as other teammates were late tracking back to cover ground. On two occasions UD let Duquesne off the leash and nearly gave up the equalizer on fast breaks that caught the back line disorganized or at a numbers disadvantage from late arriving defensive help by the midfielders. Sophomore Stacy Chew — who replaced an injured Tasha Dittamore at halftime — came up big on both occasions and was on her line to make the tricky stops from well-struck balls.

The Flyers never regained their first half rhythm in spite of pleading from the bench to control the ball and force Duquesne to chase. To the Dukes credit they picked up the intensity and won a fair number of loose balls that were swept up by UD players in the entire first half. After some clock-wasting down in the corner flags and some timely clears in the back, Dayton held on to maintain a perfect record in conference play.

As much as it was a tale of two halfs, just knowing the Flyers put forth a great effort in the first 45 minutes proved to a lot of fans that this team still maintains a high upside. Repeat performances like that will pay off big time and cause all kinds of trouble for opposing teams — even the good ones. On the other hand, the second half exposed some of UD’s existing weaknesses including speed in the back line that Duquesne nearly took advantage of for a couple goals of their own.

The bottom line was yet another positive one and gives UD some nice momentum heading into the big matchup on Sunday afternoon against preseason favorite St. Louis. Dayton has what it takes to down the Billikens if they give 90 minutes of effort like they did in the first half tonight. With 90 minutes of effort based on Friday’s second half, things could be troubling. But it’s an opportunity to put serious distance between the Flyers and the rest of the challengers as the conference schedule winds down. It’s a potential victory that would feel like a victory and a half in the standings and that’s something UD should be prepared to fight to the death over.

Check the women’s soccer forum on the UDPride message board soon for video from tonight’s match.