The Massachusetts women’s soccer team was eliminated in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament in a disappointing, 4-1, loss against defending conference champions and second-seeded Dayton in Kingston, R.I., on Thursday night.
The Flyers dominated throughout the game and never trailed, receiving goals from four different players en route to the victory.
In their 13th appearance in the Atlantic 10 tournament, the Minutewomen (9-10-1, 4-4-1 A-10) were again dominated offensively by Dayton. The Flyers’ overpowering attack tallied up a total of 27 shots, with 23 fired on UMass goalkeeper Emily Cota, who was later replaced by Stephanie Gordon in the second half. In the first half alone, Dayton outshot the Minutewomen, 15-3, to dictate the pace of the game.
Moa Mattsson cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 54th minute on her 12th goal of the season, but the momentum was short-lived as Dayton pushed the lead back to two just 29 seconds later and added an insurance goal later to push the game out of reach.
The match was almost identical to the 2011 Atlantic 10 championship game between the two sides, when the Minutewomen were eliminated by the Flyers, 5-1, in a one-sided matchup.
The game began with a couple of missed opportunities for both teams, who each found quality shots on goal early on.
Less than five minutes into play, Flyers midfielder Kelsey Smigel ripped a shot that hit right off the post. Then in the seventh minute of play, UMass sophomore midfielder Alyssa D’Arcy had a point-blank header stopped by Flyers goalkeeper Jordin Melchert.
With a number of scoring chances in the first half, Dayton finally converted in the 35th minute of play to take a 1-0 lead. Dayton forward Stephanie Emery delivered a pass to Smigel, who ripped a shot from the middle of the box past a diving Cota to the right side of the goal.
The Flyers’ attack proved to be relentless in the second half as well, as Dayton built a two-goal lead just four minutes into the period on sophomore forward Haley Keller’s first goal of the season.
Just 29 seconds after Mattsson’s goal cut the deficit in half, the Flyers quickly ended the Minutewomen’s hope of staying in the game on a score by freshman forward Ashley Campbell that sailed over Cota’s glove and into the back of the net.
Ten minutes later, the Flyers tacked on the final blow on a Juliana Libertin header on a cross from Williams.
Cota had six saves, including a diving stop on a penalty kick by Libertin immediately following Mattsson’s goal. Gordon played just under 16 minutes in the Minutewomen net and turned aside one shot.
Dayton ended the day with a 7-2 corner kick advantage, and played a very physical defensive game with 15 fouls compared to UMass’ eight.
The Minutewomen say farewell to three senior players: goalkeepers Emily Cota and Stephanie Gordon, as well as defender Jess Howe.
UMass returns a number of contributors next season as the teams’ roster consists of 15 underclassmen, including its leading goal scorer, Mattson.
Chris Corso can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Corso.
