Miss chance to move to 3rd place in conference standings.
Dayton Dutch Lions FC had a chance to move ahead of Fire & Ice SA in the WPSL Midwestern Conference standings on Saturday evening, but fell 2-1 at home. The loss keeps Dayton in 5th place, now 4 points behind Fire & Ice.
In a match in which the Dutch Lions FC appeared equal or better than the competition, a couple of bad bounces and mistakes made the difference. “I feel bad for the girls because they worked so hard,” said Dayton Head Coach Bradley Schluter. “We’re in every game. Other teams have been able to take advantage of our mistakes, and we haven’t been able to take advantage of theirs.”
It took a few minutes for the Lions to settle into the match, but the home side enjoyed much of the possession in the first half. The Lions repeatedly worked the ball into the attacking third, but none of the shots found the back of the net. Fire & Ice settled for counterattacks to generate a little bit of offense in the first 45 minutes. The couple of shots generated by the visitors were comfortably saved by Dutch Lions FC goalkeeper Bekah Vine.
Dayton center back Hayley Jackovich suffered an injury in the first half, making a brave challenge to prevent a breakaway. Jackovich was unable to return to the match. “That was a big injury to a key player,” said Schluter. “We had to make adjustments on the fly.”
Schluter made additional adjustments at intermission to create width in the attack. The move created a numerical advantage in the middle of the field for Fire & Ice, which allowed the visitors to see more possession in the second half. “The possession we gave up wasn’t in bad areas,” noted Schluter. No. It was the bad bounces and a handful of mistakes that did in the Dutch Lions FC. In the 70th minute, second half GK substitute Jessika Seward came off her line to stave off a break by Fire & Ice. Seward got to the ball, but it bounced to feet of Fire & Ice attacker Mackenzie Litzsinger. All that remained was for Litzsinger to pass the ball into an empty net.
The visitors doubled the lead in the 80th minute. Dayton gave away possession in its own third, and Fire & Ice’s Sofia Hernandez found herself wide open with the ball near the top of the box. Hernandez blistered a strike into the net. A nifty bit of interplay between Diana Benigno and Lauren Bastian resulted in a consolation goal for the Lions in the 87th minute. Benigno collected a wide service into the box and rolled the ball behind the last Fire & Ice defender. Bastian ran onto it and slotted it inside the far post. It was too little, too late for Dayton.
“We didn’t take advantage of opportunities,'' said Schluter. “I feel like we’re creating enough chances to win, but the shots aren’t falling.”