The Massachusetts men’s soccer team salvaged a 1-1 draw against Dayton in a difficult conference matchup on Wednesday at Rudd Field. The defending Atlantic-10 champions Dayton (5-1-3, 1-0-2 A-10) led for over 60 minutes of game time before UMass (6-2-4, 2-1-1 A-10) got on the board with an 88th-minute goal. The late score helped the Minutemen earn the draw and one point in the conference standings.
With under three minutes on the clock, UMass trailed 1-0 and were quickly trying to score to level the game at one apiece. The Minutemen’s efforts came good off a corner kick from Mike Willis that was beautifully headed by Ivan Vrh into the ground near the left post and then hit the back of the net to make it 1-1.
“The first half we came in disappointed because we had really three or four chances to get on the board,” head coach Fran O’Leary said. “We didn’t win the penalty area in the first half, ultimately we won a jewel in the penalty area that got us the result [Wednesday], that got us a very important point.”
The Flyers first took the lead in the 27th minute of the first half. Hjalti Sigurdsson of Dayton sent a pass to Cooper Lijewski, who was near the right of the goal area. Lijewski bounced the ball off his chest and sent it off his right foot into the net, past the outstretched arms of UMass goalkeeper Alex Geczy.
For over an hour of game time, the Minutemen battled to get a tying goal against the Flyers. There were several chances for UMass that threatened to equalize, but couldn’t be converted. Likewise, Dayton had notable opportunities that nearly gave them a commanding two-goal lead.
The Minutemen’s team-leading scorer Alec Hughes made his entrance into the game off the bench shortly after the Flyers scored their goal. Hughes created some chances for UMass but couldn’t get any into the back of the net. In the 29th minute, Hughes attempted a header towards the left post, which was saved by Dayton goalkeeper Dario Caetano off the crossbar.
One of the Flyers’ best chances to add another goal was from Dayton’s leading scorer Martin Bakken in the 62nd minute. Bakken blasted a long-range shot that deflected off the hands of Geczy and off the crossbar. The Minutemen defense did a respectable job in limiting the explosive offense of the Flyers, who came into the game as the second-best offense in the country, averaging three goals per game.
Hughes had another golden opportunity in the 65th minute when he used his incredible speed to win the ball on the left flank and had a two-on-one against a Dayton defender with Vrh trailing. Hughes dumped it off to Vrh who shot it bottom center, but Caetano recorded another save.
“[Dayton’s] got real quality, I think they’ve got some fantastic players,” O’Leary said. “When it’s one-nil you’ve got to hang in when you can feel a little overwhelmed, and we just hung in. When it’s one-nil you’ve always got a chance. And our guys, we created a couple really good chances in the second half.”
Facing off against a Flyers team who came in as the defending A-10 champions and have only lost one game this season, the Minutemen were happy to come away with a quality draw against a top-tier opponent in the conference. The result earned UMass its seventh conference point and a 2-1-1 conference record at the halfway mark of A-10 play.
“We talk about needing to come get points when we’re losing games,” O’Leary said. “We were losing at Fordham and we won so we got three points there. We were losing today against the conference champions and we tied. So that’s four points we retrieved from losing positions and that’s so important in finishing high up the league table.”
The Minutemen return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 to face Davidson on the road. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
