‘A healthy struggle’ — Dayton women’s soccer team 2-3-2 against tough non-conference schedule

“It’s been up and down,” coach Eric Golz said Wednesday. “I think that we’ve played a challenging schedule intentionally to try and identify some areas of strength and weakness heading into our conference schedule. We’ve seen some really good versions of ourselves. We’ve seen some less-than-stellar versions of ourselves. It’s very much a work in progress, but I think for where we are in this season we’re learning what we need to learn.”

Dayton beat Wright State 2-0 and Western Kentucky 1-0 while tying then 12th-ranked Michigan State 0-0 and Purdue 0-0. It has been shut out by Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Louisville, three teams with a combined record of 15-5-2.

Dayton plays Akron (3-1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Baujan Field in its final non-conference game before 10 Atlantic 10 Conference matches.

“I think it’s good to be stretched,” Golz said. “We have been stretched consistently. In years past, our schedule’s been a bit different. We’ve been under pressure constantly and consistently for multiple games, which I think is a learning curve. It’s an older, experienced team with 10 seniors that have won a lot of games during the course of their career. I think that this experience, while not always enjoyable, is healthy for us. It’s a healthy struggle.”

Dayton will honor its seniors at the game Friday. The Flyers are 45-13-10 in the last four seasons.

“It’s definitely going to be a roller coaster of emotions,” said four-year starting goalkeeper Batoul Reda, who set a UD career record with her 30th shutout in August. “I’m happy. I’m excited to get to this point, to be healthy, to be able to play, but I’m also sad to kind of see my career here wrap up.”

Reda has four shutouts in seven games, but the offense has been shut out five times. The Flyers did not score in the last three games against West Virginia, Purdue and Louisville. They haven’t scored in their last seven halves.

“I’s important to just stay patient,” said midfielder Riley Kerber, a Medina native who played her first two seasons at Boston College. “The goal drought will eventually end. I think once we score one, there are more to come, and they will kind of flow.”