Dayton wins A-10 women’s soccer tournament for first time in nine years

Seconds later, Rhode Island’s next shot hit the crossbar. Then Dayton senior midfielder Riley Kerber, who had never scored in a college game, converted the winning penalty kick. The Flyers won the shootout 5-4 after neither team scored in regulation or overtime.

Dayton coach Eric Golz, who said he had never seen an official make that call in a shootout, won his first A-10 championship in his ninth season.

“It didn’t happen the way we expected it to happen or wanted it to happen,” Golz said, “but we found a way, and we’ve done that all year.”

Dayton won the A-10 tournament for the 11th time but first time since 2016. It also earned its first NCAA tournament berth in nine years and will find out its opponent and destination at 4 p.m. Monday.

Golz praised the senior class, which has led Dayton to double-figure win totals the last four seasons.

“One of our values is legacy, investing in ourselves, investing in the team and their teammates, investing in the program, to make sure that the program’s in a better place when they leave than it was when they arrived,” Golz said. “So I think they’ve helped us, over the last few years, continue to make progress, take steps forward, build our ability, build our national brand, build our rankings. This group has really done a lot to help the program continue to move forward in future.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Dayton (15-3-3) will take a 14-match winning streak, the third longest in school history, into the NCAA tournament. It has not lost since Sept. 7. It beat No. 8 seed La Salle, No. 6 Fordham and No. 4 Rhode Island in the A-10 tournament after finishing 10-0 in the A-10 in the regular season.

“It feels so surreal,” said Reda, the program’s all-time leader in shutouts. “It’s everything we work for. This is like the dream ending for me, winning in PKs. My team had my back and I had theirs, and I’m just so proud of this team.”

Kerber was Dayton’s sixth shooter in the shootout. She wouldn’t have got the chance if it had not been tied through five kicks.

“I was kind of focused the whole entire shootout,” she said. “I was trying to be like, ‘If I have to take it, I’m going to take a deep breath, and I’m going to do what I have to do for my team.”

Golz described the shootout as an “emotional roller coaster.” As for Smith converting her penalty kick after the miss, Golz said, “It took a lot of guts and confidence and a lot of courage to step up in that moment after she had just been denied and bury the next one.”

Reda was named the A-10 tournament’s most outstanding player. She made the all-tournament team along with senior Kyra Karfonta, sophomore Liv Grenda and Kerber.

Counting two victories against Rhode Island this season, Dayton has won four straight games in the series since a tie in 2019. Rhode Island has not beaten Dayton since 2006.

Dayton won despite numerous missed chances in the first 90 minutes. It had 18 shots to Rhode Island’s five and had a 14-2 advantage in corner kicks.

“It was kind of a frustrating game,” Kerber said. “I feel like we had a lot of opportunities, and we were in their half a lot of the time, but in the grand scheme of things, I think that the better team did end up winning.”