Photo credit: Greg Fiume
By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
Women’s soccer fell 4-1 to Dayton on Sunday afternoon to move to eight games winless.
The Revolutionaries (3-7-3, 0-5-1 A10) looked strong defensively in the first half before conceding once at the start of the second half and twice in the last four minutes of the game. The Flyers (8-1-5, 3-0-3 A10) looked like the better team for much of the day, keeping pace towards the top of the Atlantic 10 and showing why they have the talent to make the NCAA tournament.
The first opportunity of the day came off the leg of GW freshman forward Kate McGrath in the second minute but Dayton showed their ability to get in behind, as senior midfielder Madison Wilson and fifth year forward Laney Huber put the Revs under some pressure in the first ten minutes. Huber forced a 1v1 save out of junior goalkeeper Ainsley Lumpe, who did well to come out and make the stop.
GW made it difficult for Dayton to play through them, not allowing the Flyers to get anything beyond a few half chances. This was the case until the 33rd minute when junior forward Noel Blain put a shot towards goal on a corner kick. But sophomore defender Avril Silva was able to block the shot at the near post before slipping on it, allowing Lumpe to scoop it up.
“We understood the restraining line, picking up [our pressure] at the lacrosse line on the field,” GW head coach Michelle Demko said. “And just keeping the game in front and moving as the ball moved and being really hard to penetrate and break down. I thought we also did well to force them into our cover so our midfield was able to pick up a lot of first and second balls and then help us get forward in the first half.”
A golden chance came in the 44th minute for the Revolutionaries when junior winger Kelly Poole was played through on goal but shot it directly at sophomore goalkeeper Batoul Reda, who saved it with ease.
It was 0-0 at halftime and I think it’s fair to say that both teams could be satisfied going into the break. GW managed to cut out defensive mistakes that’d been plaguing them in recent matches, while Dayton was on the front foot and looked like they only needed one good chance to score.
Two minutes into the second half, that chance came. Huber once again got in behind after an aerial through ball from fifth year defender Alicia Donley and Lumpe came rushing out but Huber popped it over her head and into the net.
Up 1-0, the Flyers continued to threaten, with a great chance coming in the 71st minute. Less than a minute later, the Revs conceded a dumb and needless corner, clearing the ball out over the touchline without a Flyer nearby. After the corner was put into a very dangerous area right on top of sophomore goalkeeper Grace Crowe (who entered for an injured Lumpe in the 51st minute), it bounced around the box and chaos ensued. Following a goal line clearance and the ball bouncing off the top of the crossbar (no, seriously) Donley poked it in to make it 2-0.
In the midst of protests from the GW bench about a foul on Crowe on the goal, senior winger Lauren Prentice quickly got down the right wing and played a tantalizing ball that senior Margaret Rabbit flicked into the path of Poole at the back post. The Waxham, North Carolina native took a touch, put it off the post and snuck it into the net. Just 15 seconds after going down two goals, the Revs cut the deficit in half and were right back in the game with 18 minutes to play.
As they’d done all day, Dayton continued to get to the endline and play balls into dangerous areas. Meanwhile, GW showed carelessness with the ball at times, looking panicked and uncomfortable when the Flyers pressed them.
Senior midfielder Diana Benigno played an aerial cross in the 86th minute, which Wilson got a head on, forcing a quality reflex save out of Crowe. But unfortunately for the Revs, the rebound fell right to Huber, who tapped it into an empty net for her second goal of the day.
For the remainder of the match, Dayton peppered GW with chances. Crowe had a nice save coming out of her goal in the 87th minute and Silva had a clutch block to save a goal in the 89th minute.
With 15 seconds left, Benigno calmly received a pass from Blain on top of the box, took a touch and curled it beautifully into the far corner with her left foot. The traveling contingent of Benigno fans, who’d been making noise for her all day, now had an unforgettable moment to take back to Beavercreek, Ohio with them.
Just looking at the score, you’d think GW was outclassed but the final score inflated by the first and last five minutes of the second half did not represent the quality of the teams on the day. Dayton was the better team but I saw something from GW that I hadn’t seen in a few games. They are a young team who has done plenty of learning on the fly and while the results haven’t been there (they finished September with an 0-5-2 record and a -9 goal differential), they have plenty of winnable games remaining on their schedule.
“This group, they’re fighters and they’re competitors,” Demko said. “They’re certainly not going to throw in the towel or hang their head. It’s frustrating for them, for sure. But our job as educators is to continue to teach.”
The Revs sit 14th out of 15 teams and seven points out of a place in the Atlantic 10 playoffs with four conference matches remaining. It will be a tall hill to climb. But it is a hill, not a mountain. They’re not out of it just yet. Next up for the Revs is their final non conference game of the season, at NJIT on Wednesday at 6 PM. That game can be streamed on ESPN+.
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