Dayton’s women soccer team remains one of three unbeaten Division I teams after this weekend of play. Stanford and South Carolina are the other remaining two.
Dayton (9-0-5, 5-0-1 Atlantic 10) tried to take the lead in conference standings Friday night against Charlotte (11-2-1, 5-0-1 A-10). However, neither team scored after going into double overtime. The Flyers have never beaten the 49ers, but they did outshoot their opponents 30-11.
Flyer’s goalkeeper Katherine Boone also recorded her eighth shutout of the season. Dayton’s defense played just as well, stopping a Charlotte offense that averages three goals per game. The tie moves Dayton’s winning streak to 13 games, keeping them as the top-ranked team in the A-10 conference.
Sunday’s game against Saint Louis (6-6-2, 3-2-1 A-10) continued Dayton’s dominant play with a 2-1 win in overtime. Senior Mandi Bäck, for the second time in two weeks, contributed the winning goal.
In the 18th minute of play, Colleen Williams struck first off of an assist by Lauren MacCormick, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. The Billikens evened out the score in the second half, forcing overtime. With one minute left in overtime, Bäck cleaned up a blocked shot from Williams to give Dayton the win.
The impressive winning streak ranks Dayton 26th out of 64 in the Top Drawer Soccer Tournament. The Flyers are also ranking No. 32 in the NSCAA National Poll and No. 39 in the Soccer Times College Coaches Poll.
La Salle Earns First POW Honor
Traci DePasquale, a senior at La Salle, scored and assisted two goals last weekend to earn the A-10 Player of the Week award.
In Friday’s 3-1 victory at the Massachusetts, DePasquale started off her scoring with a goal in the 23rd minute off of a header from Ally Kenney. The Minutewomen (3-8-2, 2-4-0 A-10) also scored in the first half. However, the Explorers (8-5-2, 2-3-1 A-10) took the lead two minutes into the second half with a goal by Kenney, assisted by DePasquale. DePasquale wrapped up La Salle’s scoring with an insurance goal in the 61st minute.
She continued her streak in Sunday’s game against Rhode Island (4-8-1, 2-4-0 A-10), where she assisted Melanie Gamble’s goal in the 40th minute. Erin Brennan scored again for the Explorers in the 60th minute to give her team a 2-1 victory over the Rams. The assist was DePasquale’s ninth of the season and 27th of her career.
The pair of goals and assists increased DePasquale’s points to 23, moving her into first place for points and assists in the A-10. She is also tied for third place in goals. In national standings, DePasquale is tied for ninth in assists per game and is just one out of seven players who has scored at least seven goals and seven assists.
Duquesne drops six in a row
Duquesne fell to Saint Joseph and Temple this past weekend, making it six straight losses in A-10 conference play.
The Dukes (3-9-0, 0-5 A-10) took an early lead against the Hawks (6-5-3, 3-2-1 A-10) with a goal in the 11th minute by Gabby Morrin. Saint Joseph evened the score five minutes later and the scored remained tied until the second half. In the 88th minute, the Hawks scored again to take the win over Duquesne.
The Dukes gave up a similar loss on Sunday to Temple (5-8-1, 1-5-0 A-10). Duquesne once again took an early 2-0 lead and kept it up until the second half. Temple scored its first goal in the 70th minute, and then tied up the game 10 minutes later. With four minutes remaining, the Dukes could not hold on for the win as the Owls scored yet again. The loss marked Duquesne’s sixth in a row as it still has not found a win over any other team in the A-10 conference.
Geena Lombardi can be reached at [email protected].
