Wright State came within eight minutes of defeating the Dayton Flyers for the first time since 1996 however Ashley Campbell’s 83rd minute goal for Dayton forced a 2-2 tie with the Raiders Sunday evening.
The Raiders are 0-10-2 against their crosstown rivals since defeating the Flyers in 1996.
“It is a huge rivalry and they always think they are going to be so much better than us,” senior forward Emilie Fillion said. “Being the underdog was actually motivating.”
WSU is 2-2-3 in the nonconference slate this season with two more contests before Horizon League play gets underway.
WSU forwards Ini Umotong and Fillion scored in the draw. Despite allowing two goals for the first time all season, goalkeeper Brooke McCurdy was stellar stopping 14-of-16 shots faced.
“Obviously we would have like to have hung on but it took two world-class shots to beat our ‘keeper,” Wright State head coach Patrick Ferguson said. “I think our girls showed a tremendous amount of character because our first half was not good.”
Dayton got off to a fast start firing 23 shots with nine of those opportunities being on goal. McCurdy’s only blemish was allowing Campbell to go top shelf in the 31st minute to give UD a 1-0 lead.
“We let the pressure get to us,” Umotong said. “We made some nervous mistakes and just didn’t take our time. As the game wore on, we got more comfortable.”
The Raiders were more aggressive early in the second half. Less than three minutes after halftime, Kalee Thompson served a nice ball from the left flank to Umotong’s in the box headed the ball into the net. It was Umotong’s first goal of the season.
“I think it definitely helped the team’s mentality from that goal,” Umotong said. “Our whole team picked up and attacking straight from there. It was a team effort on the build up.”
Fillion scored her team-leading fourth goal of the 2013 campaign on a gritty shot from the penalty box after finding UD goalkeeper Elizabeth James out of position in the 77th minute. Fillion was setup by reserve Amy Anderson who notched her first assist of the season to give WSU the 2-1 advantage.
“We did a much better job keeping the ball and then we keep the ball, we diminish their chances of shooting,” Ferguson said about WSU’s second-half response.
After Campbell’s 83rd minute goal to force overtime, she nearly notched a hat trick in the 94th as her shot clanked off the goalpost.
McCurdy could break the school record for career saves by a goalkeeper tonight against Butler. McCurdy has 335 career saves and is third all-time in school history. McCurdy is seven saves behind Randi Freeman who tops the list. Freeman played for WSU from 1998-01. McCurdy is also is one save behind Leigh Ann Brown who is second on the list. Brown played for the Raiders from 1990-93.
