Dayton brings momentum into A-10 women’s soccer tournament

“It’s always tough to play the same team two games in a row,” Dayton coach Eric Golz said Wednesday. “So I think we will certainly see a good version of Richmond. I know that they have not played in the tournament for a number of years. I think they’re going to be just tremendously excited about the opportunity. Their work rate, their intensity, their discipline defensively are all very, very good. Both teams are probably going to tweak a couple of things from last weekend. We’ll see what they may tweak to better prepare for us, but come tournament time, anything can happen. But we’re excited to host.”

This is the first time Dayton (11-5-2, 8-2) has played an A-10 tournament game at home since 2014, Golz said. His team is the No. 2 seed in the eight-team event. Richmond (7-9-1, 5-5) is the No. 7 seed.

No. 1 seed Virginia Commonwealth (13-3, 9-1) will host the semifinals and championship game if it beats No. 8 seed Saint Joseph’s (5-11-2, 5-5) on Saturday night. If VCU loses, the highest remaining seed will host the final three games Nov. 5-7.

Dayton has not lost since falling 3-1 at VCU on Oct. 10. The Flyers seek their 11th tournament championship and first since 2016. Saint Louis, the No. 3 seed, has won the last two tournament titles.

Dayton’s second-place finish in the regular season was its best in the Golz era, not counting the 2021 spring season when the league split into three geographic divisions. In 2017, Dayton placed eighth with a 4-4-2 record. It was eighth again in 2018 (4-5-1) and fifth in 2019 (5-3-2).

“I think that obviously winning the league (regular season) championship would have been the preference,” Golz said, “but I think it’s a natural progression for us. It’s a good step for us. We needed to continue to progress toward competing for championships. We dug our way through some adversity early early in the season and dug our way through some ups and downs in terms of what version of ourselves we were. But we’re heating up and gelling and playing well at the right time of year.”

Sophomore forward Itala Gemelli led Dayton in goals with 11 and ranked second in the conference. Junior Laney Huber scored six goals. Junior Jessica Sheldon and sophomore Diana Benigno tied for the team lead with five assists. Dayton led the A-10 with 37 goals (2.056 per game).

“We’ve seen a lot of growth within our team,” Golz said. “Jessica has become consistently impactful. Laney has had a really good season in terms of opportunities. She’s creating and finishing, but she’s also been just a consistent nuisance defensively for us higher up the field. Diana has been has been playing really well over the last few games. So I’m excited to see her confidence growing and impact drawing. Itala is a goal scorer. She’s continued to consistently score goals, this year being different than last year. Last year, she was a first-year student. Nobody knew her. This year, everyone knows who she is, and she’s still scoring. So that’s a huge testament to her.”