Lady Lions Draw Level With Eagles
Dayton – The Dayton Dutch Lions FC Women’s team (5-0-0) had their first meeting with the Charlotte Lady Eagles (3-1-0) on Saturday at DOC Stadium. The teams were evenly matched as the game began. Both looked for a mistake from the other side to gain an advantage.
Charlotte applied offensive pressure and earned a corner kick in the eighth minute. Alex Brandt found the head of Valorie O’Brien who put the ball in the back of the net, putting the Lady Eagles up by one.
Dayton’s Florence Dadson countered in the twelfth minute, after receiving the ball she made a run past the Charlotte defense only to miss the goal wide left. Dadson continued to be dangerous throughout the half, getting free and crossing the ball in front of the Charlotte goal. But, the Lady Lions were unable to take advantage of the early opportunities.
Charlotte’s Lauren Hughes kept Dayton on their toes as she had several shots on goal, but they hit the post and flew wide left. The Lions struggled to contain her throughout the first half.
The Lady Lions would turn up the pressure and attack. A Lady Eagles goal kick was intercepted by Dayton’s Liz Slattery. A ball up from Slattery found Dadson in the forty first minute. Dadson fired it into the back of the net, over the oncoming Charlotte keeper to tie up the game.
To begin the second half Charlotte was aggressive, attacking the Lion’s goal immediately. A throw down in Dayton’s end in the forty sixth minute found Justine Hovden and she fired right to left hitting the top corner of the net putting the Lady Eagles back in front.
The Lady Lions fired back in the fifty eighth minute when Meghan Blank fired a shot towards goal, but the crossbar kept the Lady Eagles in the lead however.
Dayton tied up the game in the sixty fifth minute. An attack led to a throw in and the ball bounced back to Sidney Lovelace who put it back into play connecting with Josee Stiever A quick pass to Slattery in front of the Eagles goal was put in the back of the net to tie up the game at two.
The final minutes saw both teams fighting for the go ahead goal. The play went end to end but neither team scored and the game ended Dayton Dutch Lions FC Women 2, Charlotte Lady Eagles 2.
Coach McCleod had this to say regarding the Lion’s performance: “I thought we came out very flat today. We didn’t come out and play with the speed and the organization we needed. Coming in, we knew what we had to do, but we did not execute the way we wanted. Charlotte had too many balls hit the post and crossbar today. We had one or two moments of quality, but it wasn’t enough in a ninety minute game. We have a week to prepare for a very good Washington team and if we don’t execute well there we will be in trouble. So, this week we have to pick things up.”
The Dayton Dutch Lions FC Women (5-0-0) The Lady Lions travel to play the Washington Spirit Reserves, Thursday, June 25th at 6pm at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. Washington. The teams play again on Friday, June 26th at 6pm.