DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's soccer team embraced and made the most of the unorthodox spring campaign brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic this past year. Typically, the NCAA Division I women's soccer championship season is held in the fall.
The Flyers started the 2020-21 season with a match in Dayton, Ohio at Roger Glass Stadium vs. Bellarmine on Feb. 6 which resulted in a 2-0 UD win. Freshmen
Madison Wilson and
Diana Benigno scored. The next two road matches were played at indoor facilities vs. Northern Kentucky at Wall2Wall in Mason, Ohio in which freshmen
Mia Perri and
Itala Gemelli scored, and vs. Butler at Grand Park.
Dayton defeated Akron 3-1 in an exhibition match at Roger Glass Stadium before finally returning to Baujan Field on Feb. 28 for 1-0 shutout of visiting Marshall. It marked the first NCAA Division I women's soccer match at Baujan Field in 493 days. Senior
Kara Camarco scored the game-winning goal.
UD closed out its non-conference schedule with a 1-0 (the lone goal was scored on a penalty kick) setback to Louisville and had a 3-2-0 record going into Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Flyers were selected to finish fourth in the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 standings in a vote by the league's 14 head coaches. The conference portion of the season looked different this year as well. The Atlantic 10 divided the 14 teams that participate in women's soccer into three geographical pods. The top team from each pod, and the next best team (regardless of pod) played in the four-team Championship.
The Flyers opened the A-10 campaign with a double overtime 1-1 draw at Duquesne on March 14. Freshman
Madison Wilson scored in the match for Dayton. In the second meeting, Dayton posted a 2-0 shutout over Duquesne on March 27 at Baujan Field with goals from freshmen
Itala Gemelli and
Diana Benigno and both assists coming from sophomore
Yaiza Navarro Leon.
Dayton swept St. Bonaventure, closing out the three-game series with a 2-0 Easter Sunday win at Baujan Field.
Lexy Kidd and
Madison Wilson scored on PKs in the victory. UD also had a 5-1 win vs. SBU on April 1 in which
Marlee Taylor,
Kara Camarco,
Elle Lovdal, and
Itala Gemelli (2) scored.
Itala Gemelli and
Marlee Taylor scored in a 3-0 road win over the Bonnies on March 21 (the other UD score was an own goal).
Dayton's only conference losses were to No. 20 Saint Louis (3-2 in double overtime on March 18 at Baujan Field) and 3-1 and 2-1 setback in St. Louis on April 8 and April 11.
The fourth-seeded Flyers competed in their league-record 24
th consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship, playing No. 1 seed Saint Louis (for the fourth time this season) on April 15 at Hermann Stadium. Dayton has won the A-10 Tournament Championship more than any other team in the conference: 10 times. UD has also won or shared 11 Atlantic 10 Regular Season titles.
This season, 16 of the 23 goals the Flyers scored came from UD freshmen:
Itala Gemelli led Dayton and the A-10 with nine goals, including three game-winning goals.
Madison Wilson had three goals.
Diana Benigno scored two goals, and
Mia Perri and
Elle Lovdal netted one goal each. Gemelli also was Dayton's leader in points (19), shots (39), and shots on goal (20).
Sophomore
Jessica Sheldon paced the Flyers with five assists, and also had a goal. Fellow sophomores
Marlee Taylor and
Audrey Steiert each had three assists, and sophomores
Laney Huber and
Yaiza Navarro Leon and freshmen
Katie Houck and
Madison Wilson each had two assists.
The four Flyers who started every match this season were freshmen (
Itala Gemelli and
Katie Houck) and sophomores (
Jessica Sheldon and
Audrey Steiert). Sophomores
Yaiza Navarro Leon and
Mackenzie Lutz played in and started 13 matches.
Sophomore defender
Mackenzie Lutz led all Flyer field players with 1049 minutes played.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Madelyn Dewey earned her first collegiate start vs. Louisville (March 6) and remained in the starting lineup the rest of the season. In the other four matches she came off the bench to start the second half. Dewey was 7-4-1 on the season with 46 saves and five shutouts.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Atlantic 10 Women's Soccer Rookie of the Year & First Team All-Conference
Itala Gemelli
A-10 Second Team
Mackenzie Lutz
Yaiza Navarro Leon
Jessica Sheldon
A-10 All-Rookie Team
Itala Gemelli
Katie Houck
Madison Wilson
Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team
Jessica Sheldon
Emma Thomas
Atlantic 10 All-Championship Team
Itala Gemelli
A-10 Rookie of the Week
Itala Gemelli (March 15-21 & Feb. 15-21)
Dayton Team Awards
Defensive Player of the Year –
Mackenzie Lutz
Most Improved Player –
Kara Camarco
Offensive Player of the Year –
Itala Gemelli
Stacey Martin Leadership Award –
Emma Thomas
2021 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars
Second Team
Alexis Goins
Alexa Holl
Yaiza Navarro Leon
RUDYS Female Rookie of the Year
Itala Gemelli
Dayton All-Academic Team
Jessica Sheldon
Audrey Steiert
Thank you Seniors!
Carly Becker – Graduated Magna Cum Laude. Earned an Orr Fellowship (out of 1,300 applicants) and will work in the two-year program at Indianapolis-based eimagine
Olivia Brown – Graduated Cum Laude. Has been accepted to PT school. Is also considering pursuing a master's degree while playing college soccer as a graduate transfer
Kara Camarco - Graduated Magna Cum Laude. Will be a Project Coordinator for sports marketing firm Power Ad
Morgan Henderson - working in Dayton, Va. for Cargill as a continuous improvement engineer
Megan Rack -- Accepted a full time position at TQL in Cincinnati as a Logistics Account Executive
Emma Thomas – Graduated Summa Cum Laude. Earned the Award of Excellence to the Outstanding Senior Majoring in Finance. Is an Associate Buyer and Planner in Merchandising for Dick's Sporting Goods at their corporate office in Pittsburgh.
