After defeating then-No. 23 and undefeated La Salle Friday night, the Minutewomen’s Atlantic 10 tournament run and title hopes came to an end, losing to Dayton 5-1 on Sunday afternoon.
UMass coach Ed Matz said that the difference in how the games started could tell most of the story between the two games. UMass got the early lead against La Salle and fell behind early against the Flyers.
Dayton’s (19-3-0, 8-2-0 A-10) offense came out right away and netted two goals within the first 10 minutes of action, putting UMass in a hole it was unable to get out of. Both goals were scored by forward Colleen Williams, upping her season total to 15. Later on she would add another for a hat trick.
Dayton’s offense continued to put pressure on the Minutewomen (14-5-2, 7-2-0 A-10), adding another goal in the 29th minute by Stephanie Emery.
By the time UMass could muster any sort of offense it was too late. Alyssa D’Arcy scored her first goal of the season just as the game was about to end in the 89th minute.
Dayton only allowed UMass to put two shots on goal to its own 11. UMass committed 15 fouls, the Flyers 10.
Matz said that turning the ball over and allowing a goal just 47 seconds into the game set the tone for the rest of the match and that having to play catch up against a talented team like Dayton was going to be hard to do.
With all of Dayton’s talent, overcoming that obstacle proved too difficult.
“Dayton’s an incredible team. They’re very dynamic and they’ve got some very, very good players,” said Matz.
The five goals were the most the Minutewomen have given up all season. After Friday’s match against La Salle (15-1-3 7-1-2 A-10), UMass had shut out the opposition 11 times.
Defeating the undefeated
In the game against La Salle, UMass didn’t waste any time scoring on what has been one of the nation’s best defenses. Less than two minutes into the game Julie Morrissey scored her team leading ninth goal of the season after receiving a pass from Cecilia Jensen.
“It was a great ball [by Cecelia Jensen]…it was a good connection,” said Morrissey.
The goal given up by the Explorers was just the seventh they’ve allowed all season.
With the win, junior goalie Emily Cota picked up her 10th shutout of the season, tying her for sixth place in program history.
The loss was the first on the season for the Explorers who will now have to wait for the results of the women’s soccer NCAA selection show to find out what the future will hold.
Matz made it clear that despite the sour end to the season he was still very proud of his team and thought they accomplished a lot this season.
“Two-thirds of the players on our roster are brand new to this program,” said Matz. “These kids came in, they didn’t know each other in the preseason they had to come together as a team they had to learn a system they had to learn each other.
“You can’t take for granted what they accomplished because it’s truly remarkable. I think we did a very good job,” he added. “This UMass team has a lot of history and I think this year we created some of our own history.”
Now that the season is over, UMass, much like La Salle, will have to wait for the outcome of the women’s soccer NCAA selection show which will take place on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Eric Mansfield can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @MDC_Mansfield.
