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WSOC: Flyers Survive Dukes 2-1 in OT
WSOC: Flyers Survive Dukes 2-1 in OT
Christopher Rieman
Published by Chris R
10-17-2019
Smile WSOC: Flyers Survive Dukes 2-1 in OT

The Dayton Flyers women's soccer team hosted Duquesne on Thursday night and survived a critical A10 matchup with a 2-1 OT victory to put some distance on several teams in the race for an A10 tournament berth -- including the Dukes. A Jordan Pauley PK to start the second half put UD out in front, but DU tied it up late to force OT. Mink's goal in the mixer in the waning seconds of extra time earned Dayton the win as UD improves to .500 on the season at 6-6-3 (4-1-2) while Duquesne falls to 5-6-2 (3-4-0).

The match started off as well as Head Coach Eric Golz could have hoped for as the Flyers dominated the opening minutes of the game and took no time owning the overall run of play. With most of the possession in favor of the Flyers, UD pushed forward and spent much of the first 20 minutes of the match working in the Dukes' defensive half of the field. Ball movement was very strong and transitioning from defense to offense never posed much of a challenge. Credit that result to some great work in the central third by freshman midfielder Yaiza Navarro Leon acting as the conduit. The Spaniard consistently played to the feet of teammates with accurate passing that put players in a position to do something tangible on their next few touches of the ball. Navarro Leon also tracked back on defense to break up several Duquesne counter-attacks for good measure.

Tracking back too was freshman attacker Jessica Sheldon. Known for her speedy feet up and down the touch lines that end in dangerous crosses in the box, she had similar moments in UD's defensive half to track back, provide resistance, and ultimately poke balls away for Flyer possession.

As the first half continued, Flyer fans were confident something good would eventually materialize from the dominating run of play. Numerous balls were played into the box -- often from Sheldon's boot but also from others sending weak-side balls to strikers unmarked in space. Unfortunately, the level of effort and execution inside the Duquesne goal box was not nearly as up to par as the setup work leading to those great scoring chances. Time and again, dangerous bouncing balls filtered past Dukes defenders and the goalkeeper without anyone there to win a scrum and toe-poke the ball into the net.

With halftime approaching, the score should have been 2-0 or 3-0 in favor of UD, but the passive-aggressiveness in the Octagon of Opportunity kept Duquesne on life support when they probably didn't deserve it.

Halftime stats favored UD in shots 5-3 and corner kicks 4-1, but that was only half of the story. Dayton failed to produce a single shot on goal in the first 45 minutes and corner kick execution was a disaster -- most kicks from the corner flag never even made it inside the DU goal box -- often botched short-corner set pieces that were cleanly stolen, blocked, or denied altogether.

As long as the run of play continued to favor Dayton in the second half however, the Law of Averages felt like it would kick in and produce a couple goals on persistence alone -- even if execution remained suspect.

The first 10 minutes after intermission were evenly played as Duquesne picked up the pace and found better results winning 50/50 balls in between the goal boxes. Still, the Flyers weren't under any major duress as the match continued.

Dayton got a huge break in the 55th minute on a Duquesne take-down just outside their own goal box to thwart a Flyer counter-attack into open space. The foul appeared to start well outside the box but finish just inside, nevertheless the referee saw it differently than everyone else -- including most Flyer fans -- and pointed to the spot to the anger of the Duquesne bench. Jordan Pauley struck it perfectly and GK Megan Virgin had no chance as the Flyers went up 1-0. Perhaps the lid on the goal mouth was finally lifted.

Wishful thinking.

As dominant as the Flyers were up to Pauley's PK conversion, Dayton was as lethargic, apathetic, and uninterested in competing over the remaining 35 minutes of regulation -- to either twist the knife and extend the lead or simply dominate the run of play enough to make the last half hour academic.

Duquesne soon became the team Dayton was in the first half, winning a preponderance of loose balls, playing more physical, and simply looking, acting, and playing like they wanted a victory more so than the opposition. Suddenly the Flyers were in serious trouble as the Dukes found open space to run free and challenge the Dayton defensive half of the field. Sloppy passing and soft 50/50 challenges also afforded Duquesne additional time and space to counter-attack with numbers and force the Flyer back line to chase those jailbreak opportunities.

With match momentum swung 180 degrees, UD was on life support and trying to simply hang on. There was little in the way of tactics or execution. Strikers were unable or unwilling to dig out any loose balls up top to stop the bleeding and provide at least a small token of possession. In the midfield and back lines, errant passing and slow play pinched most options to play out of the back altogether. Either gassed or on lunch break, the Flyers were doing everything they could to give Duquesne an excuse to tie the match up with a cheap goal in the waning minutes.

The Dukes obliged.

What could be foreshadowed 20 minutes prior ended up coming to fruition in the 85th minute when Duquesne cleaned up a loose ball directly in front of GK Emily Jones and the Flyer defense to even the match at 1-1. With just five minutes remaining in regulation, UD looked like a team hoping they could survive it and push the match to overtime without giving up a game-winner.

Thankfully overtime came and UD had a chance to reset and re-assess things. The first minutes of extra time were nothing extraordinary by either side as the run of play was relatively even. The Flyers still looked gassed, but Golz had the speedier personnel on the field to give UD a fighting chance at salvaging a victory.

Senior Caroline Mink ended the suspense in the last seconds of the first OT with a redirect in the mixer to give Dayton the Maalox-chugging 2-1 win in extra time. The game-winner was initially blocked by the goalkeeper from short-range, but trickled just over the goal line to end the match.

Overall stats favored UD in shots 15-11 but shots on goal were even at four a piece -- indicative of the lack of execution by both teams inside the goal boxes. Dayton took eight corner kicks to just four for Duquesne; most of UD's attempts were dumpster fires and led to nothing dangerous. That's a storyline the UD coaching staff has fought all season as they've tried balls directly into the box, short tag-team corners, and everything in between. Nothing has worked and oftentimes UD would have been better off to decline the corner kick altogether and take a throw-in -- if only the rules allowed.

The Flyers struggled with pace of play all evening and passing suffered the most. Too many passes were time-consuming rollers on the Baujan Field grass that lacked mustard and allowed Duquesne to close the distance. Additionally, many balls were played directly to players in space rather than leading those players 5-10yds upfield so they could run into the ball and carry forward. The waiting, receiving, trapping, and subsequent movement all but eliminated any time and space advantages Dayton had for most of the match.

That said, Yaiza Navarro Leon was a bright spot all match, hitting feet for distribution, cutting back-side for weak-side feeds to teammates lurking in open space, and tracking back for help on defense -- even all the way to the Flyer baseline when called upon. Sheldon was once again UD's most dangerous attacking player because of her speed and work rate along the touch lines. While Sheldon typically only plays 55-60 minutes a match, she's a lunchpail player and always makes her minutes count.

Despite the near-disastrous outcome, UD got the result they desperately needed on Thursday night and are one step closer to earning an A10 tournament berth to keep the two decade streak alive. It remains a young team that is learning on the job and at times that means some excruciating moments and lessons on the field. To the team's credit however, they've cobbled together just enough success in spite of the lack of experience to control their destiny with two weeks remaining in the regular season.

UD hits the road for a match this weekend at VCU.
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