UDPride Discussion Forums    
     

Go Back   UDPride Discussion Forums > LATEST ARTICLES > UDPride Articles

UDPride Articles Published content from your UDPride staff

» Log in
User Name:

Password:

Not a member yet?
Register Now!
» Advertisement
Comment
 
Article Tools Display Modes
UD Womens Soccer Turning Season Around
UD Womens Soccer Turning Season Around
Christopher M Rieman
Published by Chris R
10-15-2013
Smile UD Womens Soccer Turning Season Around

DAYTON (OH) -- Only four matches remain on the 2013 UD Women’s Soccer regular season schedule, yet there’s plenty to play for as crunch time approaches. The reason? A resurgence by head coach Mike Tucker’s squad over the last three weeks to put the Flyers in the driver’s seat for the A10 conference title. The formula is simple: win out to win the hardware. Already alone at the top of the league standings, a perfect 8-0 record guarantees the outright season title. Getting to this point didn’t come without early-season indigestion however. Things didn’t look promising after a pair of exhibition losses to Michigan and Miami (FL). Once the season started, the non-conference slate challenged the Flyers against peers they compare themselves to: perennial NCAA programs from inside and outside the BCS.

The Flyers dropped the season opener at Boston University 1-0, a return game of home-and-home series started last year when UD won in a dramatic 2OT thriller. Looking lethargic, UD couldn’t shake their preseason form against the Terriers but did manage to salvage the weekend with a 3-0 victory at Providence.

A win over Cincinnati in the home opener improved the Flyers to 2-1, but the meat of the schedule soon commenced and it didn’t help that freshman midfielder Libby Leedom went down with an injury after starting the first three matches and was lost for the season, forcing more responsibility on players like fellow frosh Erin O’Malley. Consecutive defeats to Michigan State, Tennessee, and Kentucky were not confidence-inspiring. The Flyers should have beaten the Spartans, had their chances against Tennessee, and were thoroughly pounded in Lexington. Now 2-4, issues were less about the record and more about the run of play: it was inconsistent at best. While the offense wasn’t scoring enough, it was the defense putting most of those losses out of reach. The Flyers were far too generous, giving up seven goals in the three-game stretch.

While the Flyer ship wasn’t fish food at the bottom of the Atlantic, things were indeed listing to the side. Fans saw the same defensive growing pains last year and hoped everyone would hit the ground running in 2013. After all, most of the names occupying the back line – save for freshman GK Elizabeth James – were holdovers.

UD improved to 3-4 with a convincing 4-0 win over Florida International, followed by a 2-2 double-OT draw on the unforgiving FieldTurf at Wright State University – a match that featured 41 Dayton shots but very few quality chances. It was a match they should have won, but were fortunate to even tie.

Taking a 3-4-1 record to Central Michigan – a side that pounded Dayton 4-2 at Baujan Field last year – the Flyers squeaked past the Chippewas 1-0 to reach .500 on the season. From there, something happened and Dayton has been a different team ever since.

Five more consecutive shutout victories against Toledo, Richmond, George Mason, UMass, and Rhode Island now have the Flyers sitting atop the A10 standings with a perfect 4-0 record (9-4-1 overall). In the process, they set a school record for consecutive shutouts (6) and have turned the team’s biggest liability into perhaps its greatest strength. Hard to believe but true: Dayton has the lowest goals-against-average of any team in the league. Even better, the Flyers have the most potent scoring offense. During the six-game winning streak, UD has put up 17 goals – including at least three goals in a game on four occasions.

So what the hell happened?

For starters, the schedule lightened up considerably. No honest critic will lump the last few opponents in the same class as those in the non-conference portion of the schedule. That aside however, the renewed success is a reflection of the strides made within the program – especially in the back line. For a program that’s earned a reputation over the last 20 years on keeping the score down, UD got back to what it’s known for: being stingy.

Much of the credit goes to senior Meghan Scharer and Sarah Senoyuit. We stated in the preseason that Senoyuit’s role as central defender was key. As the only Flyer to play every minute of every match this year, her consistency sets the tempo of the defense. While suffering the yips in the non-con, Senoyuit and the rest of the back line (including Ally Klinefelter, Megan Herr) have cleaned things up and gained a wealth of confidence as a collective unit. Haley Keller has also chipped in and likes to rotate back to help in the defensive third. Not to be overlooked, freshman GK Elizabeth James has gotten better as well. While none of these individual strides have been apocalyptic in scale, they’re significant when measured in their totality. Everyone has gotten better and gotten better at the same time. They also had to perform short-handed as part-time freshman starter Courtney Klosterman (four starts, six appearances) has been shelved over the last few weeks nursing an injury.

On offense, sophomore Ashley Campbell continues to put up excellent numbers, leading the league in goals scored (11), while senior Juliana Libertin is #3 in the nation in assists (12). Two others have stepped and put Dayton’s offense over the top however: senior Stephanie Emery and sophomore Nicole Waters. Both midfielders, the duo has helped spread the load around and make UD less predictable. Early in the year it was all about what Campbell and Libertin could (or couldn’t) get done. Not anymore.

We singled out Emery in the preseason as an All-Conference talent if the work and ethic and consistency improved. With eight goals and two assists (including two A10 Player of the Week nods), it’s fair to say she’s answered the challenge. Waters’ contributions have been more unassuming, but that’s only for those reading boxscores. With two goals and eight assists (second best in A10), the Canadian is perhaps UD’s most irreplaceable cog. No one else can do what she does as a possession midfielder capable of switching fields and knocking bodies around. She’s the player that sets up the teammate that sets up the goal scorer and if there’s any justice in postseason awards, she’ll garner First Team All A10 consideration.

The Flyers are scoring and protecting their goal mouth at the same time. That’s a pretty good recipe for success and it has put them in an advantageous position heading into the last three weeks of the regular season. With only four league matches left (SLU, Fordham, LaSalle, St. Joseph’s), UD has a chance to win the outright league title if they can run the table. Fellow A10 contender LaSalle has already suffered a loss and a tie, while VCU has a tie and is not on the Flyer schedule.

Consider for a moment that this year’s team has a chance to do what last year’s team featuring 3-time All-American Colleen Williams could not – win the league. Doing so would also earn the Flyers the coveted #1 seed in the A10 tournament.

That’s the most important piece of this puzzle. UD lost all four matches to the marquee teams in the non-con schedule, resulting in a RPI in the low 90s and no signature victories to impress the NCAA at-large committee. Even if Dayton runs the table and loses in the A10 Finals, their season is over. If Mike Tucker’s team wants to dance in November, they must punch their ticket through the automatic bid of the A10 tournament.

Six weeks ago that seemed about as far-fetched as holding an opponent scoreless, but the Flyers have managed to blank the opposition for 573 consecutive minutes. At 9-4-1 (4-0-0), the team is right where they want to be: playing their best soccer at the best time while occupying the top of the A10 standings as the team to beat.

A ton of soccer is left to play, but if the team accepts the challenge in small chunks – namely one game at a time – the 2013 team has a very real opportunity to check off three boxes last year’s team could not: win an A10 regular season title, tournament title, and reach the NCAAs.

Incredible.
__________________

Hot shooting hides a multitude of sins.
Make everyone else's "one day" your "day one".
Article Tools
Comment

Article Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.1

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement System V2.6 By   Branden

Article powered by GARS 2.1.8m ©2005-2006

     
 
Copyright 1996-2012 UDPride.com. All Rights Reserved.