PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's soccer team picked up its first Atlantic 10 win of the season in impressive form on Friday as the Hawks topped Dayton, 3-1, for the just the second win over the Flyers in program history.
Saint Joseph's, which improved to 8-6-0 overall and 1-2-0 in the A-10, got a first half goal from junior Olivia McEachern and a pair of second half tallies from sophomore Emily Gingrich to help the team to its first win over the Flyers since the 2005 season.
Coming off a pair of tough losses in the opening weekend of conference play last week, the Hawks took momentum midway through the first half on McEachern's fourth goal of the season. Off a pass down the left wing from classmate Shannon Westhead, McEachern beat the Dayton goalkeeper to the near left post to put Saint Joseph's up 1-0 at 24:43.
Despite being outshot 7-4 in the first period, the Hawks continued to press and held Dayton at a distance early in the second half.
Leading 1-0, Gingrich added to her team lead in the 62nd minute. After a long ball was played into the Dayton box, Gingrich took control of the ball from a pair of Flyer defenders and dribbled quickly into the middle of the box and delivered a tight shot to the upper right corner that found the back if the net at 61:59.
The Flyers (5-7-1, 1-1-0 A-10) pushed back to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 72:15 as Ashley Campbell beat SJU's goalkeeper Allison Ebling to a loose ball at the top of the Hawks' box and snuck a shot by at 72:15.
Dayton continued to press from there, but Gingrich would add an insurance goal in the 81st minute to all but seal the win. On a cross from the right corner by McEachern, Gingrich headed the ball through traffic into the right side of the empty goal to put SJU ahead by two, 3-1, at 80:39.
The Flyers would register six shots over the final nine minutes, but none made it through the SJU defense to Ebling as the junior keeper moved to 8-6-0 on the year with the win.
For the game, Dayton finished with a 16-12 edge in shots and 5-4 advantage in corners.
Friday's win marked the first win by the Hawks over Dayton came on September 30, 2005 as SJU topped the Flyers in Dayton, 1-0.
Saint Joseph's returns to action Sunday when it hosts Saint Louis at 1 p.m., with the SJU alumni game prior to it at 10:30 a.m.
