Women's Soccer vs UD | Photo by Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
After drawing two consecutive 0-0 ties, the Wright State University women’s soccer team hosted the University of Dayton Flyers for its second home game of the season.
Background
The Raiders entered Sunday evening with a record of 1-2-2. The Raiders have only managed to score in one game this season when they defeated the University of Southern Indiana 2-1 in the home opener.
The Flyers entered Sunday with a 4-0-1 record after beating Loyola Maryland, Cincinnati, Louisville and Akron. The Flyers are also recognized nationally in many statistical categories.
History versus UD
The Raiders fell to the Flyers on the road last season by a score of 2-0. Last year’s match was the first between the two rivals since 2016. UD holds the all-time record against WSU, going 22-5-4 over 31 meetings.
The match
The battle between the inner-city rivals got off to a fast start with both teams having multiple opportunities to score early. Dayton put up 10 shots in the first half and WSU managed to shoot four times.
Despite giving up 10 shots in the first half, senior Kiera Sarka surpassed her career-high five saves by recording seven in one half of play. Among those seven saves was one that occurred during a penalty kick in minute five.
“I try not to think about it too much,” Sarka mentioned. “You do all you can and then you just react and hope for the best.”
The first half ended with both teams still seeking their first goal, creating a lot of tension and excitement before the second half.
As soon as halftime drew to a close, UD wasted no time in securing its first goal after scoring in minute 46 from a second penalty kick. UD would ultimately shoot three penalty kicks with two resulting from handball penalties. Sarka would save two of them.
The momentum of the game completely swung in UD’s favor after the first goal, and the Flyers capitalized.
“I think we had a really good first half, we just need to work on converting and taking it into the second half,” senior Lauren Borchert mentioned after the match.
Borchert led the Raiders on the offensive side, producing three shots with two being on target.
UD went on to create 20 shot opportunities in the second half, scoring on three of them and winning by a final score of 3-0. Despite giving up three goals, Sarka would continue her dominant start to the season by recording 14 saves, a career best. With the win, UD moves on to 5-0-1 on the season with WSU now sitting at 1-3-2.
“[Sarka] kept us in it and made some really good saves,” head coach Travis Sobers stated. “My hope is that if we look at what the game was, that she can have some confidence moving forward.”
The game marked the third consecutive loss where WSU has been shutout.
“It’s something we have work cut out to do,” Sobers added. “We can’t not score.”
The Raiders have its top three goal scorers from last year on this year's team in Marcella Sizer (6), Borchert (4) and Elise Canter (4).
Looking ahead
WSU will take the field on Sunday for its final non-conference match against the University of Akron at 1 p.m. at Alumni Field before opening conference play against Green Bay the following Thursday on the road.
Sunday’s action can be found on ESPN+ or on WWSU 106.9 FM.
