The Massachusetts women’s soccer team narrowly edged out the University of Dayton 2-1 in the Atlantic 10 semifinal game. This was the first time the Minutewomen (13-4-3, 7-2-2 A-10) won against the Flyers (14-4-2, 7-2-2 A-10) since 2018.
With just under two minutes left in regulation, Ella Curry took a corner kick for UMass. Curry sent a short pass to Bella Recinos, got the ball back and took a long shot from just inside the corner. As a defender cleared the ball, Recinos retook possession and connected with Emma Pedolzky, who picked up the pass in front of the net and sent the ball past Dayton goalkeeper Batoul Reda to score the game-winning goal for the Minutewomen.
“It was just absolute, the most pure excitement,” head coach Jason Dowiak said. “The level of excitement and the reality of the moment immediately set in of what we accomplished, and then to have two minutes to kill the game off, that last two minutes was the best management to finish a game out that I can remember a team of mine putting together. It was absolutely incredible. We just didn’t give them a chance to get out.”
Karina Groff scored the first goal of the game just 13 minutes after kickoff, marking the second game in a row where UMass gained an early lead. After a foul on the Flyers’ Lauren Fields, Curry took the free kick for the Minutewomen, but Reda punched the ball in Groff’s direction. Groff got the rebound and shot the ball past Reda into the goal.
“It reaffirms the confidence the group has when we create our chances and we put [goals] away early,” Dowiak said. “We presented a different thought going into the game, our tactical approach where we wanted to put [Dayton] under more pressure than we did the first time we played, and more than anything, we wanted to be in real command of the ball and we got that tonight.”
Dayton’s sole goal of the contest came from a UMass own goal off the foot of Hannah Peric. Maddie Bowman crossed the ball to the middle from the right, but Peric couldn’t gain full control of the ball before it bounced away into the back of the net, giving the Flyers the equalizer.
Dayton had multiple scoring chances late in the game. In the 83rd minute, Riley Kerber crossed the ball from the left side, but Peric headed the ball out of the middle before the Flyers could get to it. Two minutes later, Laney Smith dribbled the ball up the left side and passed to Noel Blain in front of the net, but Curry got to the ball and cleared it.
“It’s hard to put into words how proud I am of our group for everything they’ve accomplished throughout the season,” Dowiak said. “[Wednesday] was different, they just showed up and they were so ready, so calm, so composed. There wasn’t a sense of nervousness that a lot of times comes with a game like this, I think that’s something that allowed us throughout different moments of the game that as ups and downs of the game came and went, we just handled everything so well.”
The Minutewomen started the second half physically, tallying six fouls in under 15 minutes. UMass finished with 15 total fouls to Dayton’s nine, and both Kelly Pease and Ashley Lamond received yellow cards for the Minutewomen in the 53rd and 79th minutes respectively. Dayton head coach Eric Golz was also assessed a yellow card around the same time as Lamond.
“The last 10 to 15 minutes we just got ultra-focused on us and we encouraged the group on the field, we made some changes [on the field],” Dowiak said. “We managed our emotions really well and it’s an emotional moment and it just shows the maturity of the group to not get consumed with things that are out of our control.”
Both teams’ goalkeepers are at the top of the A-10 in shutouts. Reda leads the conference with 11 and Bella Mendoza is tied for second with 9. Reda finished the game with one save, as she faced eight shots with three shots on goal. Mendoza had four saves on 13 shots with four shots on goal.
“Coming off of [the win], I think the group’s going to have that confidence and composure to go into [the championship] too,” Dowiak said.
UMass will travel to Saint Louis for the A-10 championship on Sunday, Nov. 10. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @devinlippman.
