Women’s soccer falls in home opener to Kent State

By: Steve Miller–Sports Editor

Sixteen shots and an enthusiastic home crowd were not enough for the Dayton women’s soccer team, who lost 2-1 against Kent State University, Sunday afternoon at Baujan Field. The Flyers now fall to 0-3-0 for their new season, in which they were picked to win the Atlantic 10 in the preseason coaches poll.

Kent State scored on a penalty kick in the 9th minute of action. It was the only goal scored in the first half, and one of just six total shots from Kent State all afternoon.

Alexis Kiehl scored the lone goal for the Flyers, a penalty kick in the 66th minute, which momentarily knotted the score at one.

But Kent State answered less than three minutes later to take the lead for good.

“When you give up a goal in the first 15, 20 minutes of every [game] this is what you can expect,” said a dismayed head coach Mike Tucker following Sunday’s loss. “It has a lot to do with focus and a lot to do with organization, nothing more than that.”

“I think every goal we’ve scored so far has been by Alexis [Kiehl],” Tucker said, “who else is gonna score some goals.”

Dayton’s two leading offensive catalysts last season, Ashley Campbell and Nicole Waters, graduated. Now the Flyers are looking for some more sparks on the offensive side of the pitch.

“They created a lot of opportunities for us, but we’ve got some new young players and some returning players that can be strong for us, we just need to connect and go from there,” said Kiehl, a junior forward, after the game.

The Flyers return to action Friday, September 2, at home against the Xavier Musketeers, a prime game that will surely be emphasized by Tucker and the team.