DAYTON, Ohio — The University of Dayton women’s soccer team gave up a goal in the second minute on Wednesday night, Nov. 11 — and then scored three unanswered goals to beat La Salle 3-1 at Baujan Field and advance to the Atlantic 10 Championship final for the second straight year.
Dayton (11-6-3, 6-1-3 Atlantic 10) surrendered the early goal to the Explorers (10-6-4, 6-2-2) in just the second minute of action, but responded with three unanswered goals to send La Salle home for the season, according to University of Dayton Athletics.
The equalizer came on an impressive buildup from freshman Reese Gallagher, who found junior Laney Smith streaking toward the goal, Dayton Athletics reported. Smith found the back of the net for her sixth goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1.
Later in the first half, a penalty drawn off a Flyer set piece put junior Liv Grenda in the spotlight, and the Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year beat the keeper and buried her third goal of the campaign — her first game-winner — to put Dayton in front, according to Dayton Athletics.
With rain starting to fall and play becoming sloppy, senior Eva Schreiber scored her second career goal from long range, skipping one past the keeper to give Dayton its 3-1 margin. Senior keeper Kasey Cannistraro faced 14 shots, including seven on goal, and made six saves for a new high as a Flyer, Dayton Athletics reported. Dayton finished with narrow advantages in shots (18-17), shots on goal (8-7) and corner kicks (6-5).
The win sends Dayton into its second consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship final. The Flyers own a conference-record 11 Atlantic 10 tournament championships, and Sunday’s final will be the fifth time Dayton has squared off with Saint Louis in the title match during head coach Eric Golz’s 10-year tenure, according to Dayton Athletics.
What happens next is the trophy match itself: Dayton travels to Saint Louis to take on the No. 1 seed Billikens on Sunday, Nov. 15, with the match scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, Dayton Athletics announced. The winner takes the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Photo: Blervis, CC BY-SA 4.0