With the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament at stake, the Dayton women’s soccer team came from behind late and earned itself a 1-1 double overtime draw against Virginia Commonwealth in the final regular season game for both teams.
The Rams (11-4-4, 6-2-1 Atlantic 10) opened up the scoring in the 13th minute of play when sophomore forward Cristin Granados scored her sixth goal of the season. Taryn Cressy and Courtney Conrad assisted on the goal.
VCU remained ahead until the 87th minute when Flyers (13-4-1, 7-1-1 A-10) senior forward Colleen Williams headed home a Kelsey Smigel cross to tie the game at one apiece with only three minutes left in regulation. Williams’17th goal of the season would send the game into overtime and ensured that Dayton would avoid being shutout for the first time this season.
The Flyers played with a keen sense of urgency in extra time, outshooting the Rams 11-1 over both overtime periods, forcing VCU goalkeeper Kristin Carden to make a career-high 12 saves.
With the draw, Dayton secured the second overall seed in the A-10 tournament and will take on the Massachusetts in the quarterfinals, which will take place at the University of Rhode Island.
Draw gives LaSalle top seed
La Salle played its cross-city rivals Temple to a scoreless draw on route to capturing the A-10 regular season title.
The Owls, (5-12-13, 2-6-1 A-10) with nothing to lose after having already being eliminated from playoff contention, looked to play spoiler for the Explorers, (14-4-1, 8-0-1 A-10) who were hoping to secure the top spot in the tournament.
The Explorers outshot Temple by an alarming margin of 38-8, with 22 of those shots coming in the second half alone.
The Owls, however, stood their ground and did not concede a goal despite being badly outplayed by a clearly superior team.
Michael Downs can be reached at [email protected].