Zips Go Toe-to-Toe with A-10 Champion Dayton

Friday, September 8

Akron, OH

7 pm

University of Akron

1-5-1

Dayton

3-3-0

Dayton

Akron

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

September 08 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

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Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

AKRON, Ohio – The Akron women's soccer team went toe-to-toe with the reigning Atlantic-10 champions, Dayton, for a full 90 minutes but fell just short of a result falling, 3-2, on Friday night at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet field.

"We are very proud of the lady's and the performance they had out on the field against a very good Dayton squad. A few defensives mistakes led to their three goals but that's is all part of the learning curve," said head coach Noreen Herlihy. "All together we played a good 90 minutes tonight and if we continue to compete like we did tonight for the rest of the season we will put ourselves in a good situation to win games in MAC play."

Akron took the offensive advantage in the match by outshooting the Flyers, 13-11, on the night, along with the edge in corner kicks, 5-3.

Individually for the Zips, Ashley Amato (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in her second game back on the year and first start of the season paced the Akron attack with five shots, including a pair of goals in the 35th and 47^th minutes. Junior's Rachel Baughman (Alliance, Ohio) and Erica Schrader (Blacklick, Ohio) each tallied three shots, while junior Kiana Zuk (Windsor, Ontario), and freshmen Lauren Lambert (Stoutsville, Ohio) and Eliese LaCourt (Rockford, Mich.) posted one shot each, respectively.

In all 90 minutes of action, freshman Amani Jiu (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made five saves and surrendered three goals. The Akron keeper has now made 30 saves on the year and owns a 1.82 goals against average.

The Flyers jumped out to an early lead 2-0 lead with goals in the 8' and 35' of the match, but the Zips would not go away quietly.

Two minutes following Dayton's second goal, Amato put Akron on the board with her first goal of the season at the 35:10 mark of the first half. The Flyers were called for a foul just passed the midfield line resulting in a free kick for the Zips. Freshman Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.) stepped to the ball for Akron to put the ball back in play, and she did just that. Watt sent a beautiful ball high into the air that landed inside the box at the feet of Amato. The sophomore corralled the ball, gained space and ripped a shot that landed in the back of the net. Watt collected her first career assist off her pass to Amato.

With the momentum shifting in the favor of the Zips to close out the first half, Akron continued to be aggressive after the first whistle of the second half. In the 48' of the contest, the Zips knotted up the game at two with Amato's second goal of the game. Amato and freshman Ally Brown (Batavia, Ohio) worked perfectly together on a give-and-go between multiple Flyer defenders. Brown snuck a pass away to Amato who found space to get a shot off that beat the keeper. Brown's pass to set up the Akron goal earned her first collegiate assist.

Dayton went on to claim the lead back in the 60' of the game courtesy of Alexis Kiehl's second score of the game.
Akron nearly evened up the match in the final 10 minutes with a spectacular attempt on goal by LaCourt, but her shot was turned away by an impressive diving stop to the upper right corner of the goal to deny the Zips. Schrader also had a look at the net in the final minutes of play but her shot would land wide of the net.

Despite a valiant effort by Akron, the contested resulted in favor of the Flyers.

The Zips return to the field on Friday, Sept. 15, for their final non-conference match of the 2017 season against Duquesne. First touch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.