Women’s soccer: Dayton seeks first A-10 tournament championship since 2016

“Winning the match, psychologically, was certainly needed,” Golz said, “but I thought we played well and deserved to win the match. It’s helped build momentum and belief going forward.”

Dayton beat Saint Louis for the first time since 2016. It won at Saint Louis for the first time since 2015, while also ending a 48-game home winning streak in A-10 play for Saint Louis.

“As much as we like to say we focus on the next game ahead of us, St Louis is always a game we look forward to,” sophomore midfielder Liv Grenda said. “We all know when it’s coming up because it’s always been a rivalry for us, and especially for our upperclassmen, who had gone through these past four years and hadn’t beaten them, it was the most amazing feeling ever being able to show up on their home field, where they hadn’t lost, and coming away with a win.”

Dayton followed that victory by beating St. Bonaventure and George Mason. Then it closed the regular season Sunday with a 2-0 victory at Rhode Island on Sunday, clinching the A-10 championship outright with a 10-0 record. It has climbed to No. 21 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll.

Dayton is the first 10-0 A-10 champion since Saint Louis in 2018. The Flyers ended a three-year run by Saint Louis, which won the outright title in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Dayton (13-3-2 overall) takes an 11-match winning streak into the A-10 tournament, which starts at 7 p.m. Friday with a quarterfinal match against No. 7 seed La Salle at Baujan Field.

As the No. 1 seed Dayton will play at home throughout the tournament if it advances. The semifinals take place Wednesday. The championship game is Nov. 9.

“We’ve been consistent throughout the regular season,” Golz said, “and to go 10-0 is a testament to that consistency. I think we’ve had a variety of different players score in a variety of different ways, depending on what was needed on the day in the game. We’ve proven to be pretty resilient and pretty flexible to do what we need to do to win matches. I’m excited about how we’re defending as a team and excited about the momentum and energy heading in the postseason.”

Liv Grenda and sophomore forward Laney Smith lead Dayton with five goals. Senior forward Karli Ferguson has the team lead with five assists. Seven players have two or three goals.

“We’ve been able to score in a lot of different ways,” Golz said, “whether it’s on set pieces or counter attacks or second opportunities or build up play. We’ve had different players rise to the occasion, depending on different scenarios. As you go through a season, some players are playing better than others at certain times. We have a lot of dangerous attacking players. We can score from wide areas. We can score from central areas. I think it makes it difficult to defend.”

Dayton last won the A-10 tournament in 2016 when it won its 10th championship since 1996. Saint Louis has won the last seven championships.

Dayton seeks its first NCAA tournament berth since 2016. It ranks 28th in the RPI entering the postseason, putting it on the bubble for an at-large berth if it doesn’t win the A-10 tournament.

“Getting a top-50 win in St Louis was certainly beneficial,” Golz said. “We’ve got a good result (a 0-0 tie on Aug. 17) against Michigan State, who’s in the top 10 right now in RPI. There’s a pathway that we can control. There’s a pathway that we cannot. We prefer to focus on the pathway that we can control, which is the A 10 tournament.”

Dayton lost to Saint Louis in the championship game in 2020 (3-0), 2021 (4-2) and 2022 (4-0). Despite the lack of postseason success, Golz has built a consistent winner. The Flyers are 68-13-12 in the last five seasons.

“Our head coach really emphasizes, ‘Work for the person next to you,’” Smith said. “Every single day, showing up to practice, showing up to games, knowing that you’re working for the person next to you is something very special, and that makes me feel very grateful to be part of such an amazing program.”