DAYTON, Ohio - Battling the third-seeded Dayton Flyers to overtime, the upset bid fell short for the sixth-seeded Saint Joseph's Hawks as they fell, 2-1, in the first extra frame in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Women's Soccer Championship Thursday night at Baujan Field.
Playing to a 1-1 draw after regulation time, the host Flyers tallied the game-winner at 95:46 as Erin O'Malley's shot to the lower right found the back of the net.
In a highly competitive match, Dayton got on the board first as Ashley Campbell dribbled through the middle of the Hawks' defense and delivered a shot to the lower left that beat SJU goalkeeper Allison Ebling to make it 1-0 at 8:07.
Saint Joseph's battled back though, tying the game at 1-1 at 11:23 on Emily Gingrich's 14th goal of the season. Off a pass from midfielder Jill Root, Gingrich drilled a shot from 25 yards out that was over the reach of the Dayton goalkeeper Heather Betancourt and glanced into the net off the crossbar.
For the game, Ebling set the team's record for saves in an A-10 Championship game with eight, while Gingrich set the record for shots six.
With her goal in the 12th minute, Gingrich matched the Hawks' single-season mark for goals, matching the mark Ali Wean set in 2006. Additionally, Gingrich caps the season having set the single-season mark for shots (93) and finished second in points (31).
As a team, the Hawks capped a memorable year with their fifth appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship and matched the single-season mark for wins with an 11-9-0 record. The SJU senior class - Root, Emily Irons, McHale Perkins, Katie Beattie, and Kelsey Marchesano - also became just the third senior class to have played in multiple A-10 postseason tournaments.
