University of Dayton Athletics

DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's soccer team rallied back from an early deficit to soar past La Salle in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday night at Baujan Field.
 
UD (11-6-3, 6-1-3 A10) surrendered a goal to the Explorers (10-6-4, 6-2-2 A10) in just the second minute of action, but responded with three unanswered to send La Salle home for the season.
 
Dayton's first goal came on an impressive buildup from freshman Reese Gallagher, who found junior Laney Smith streaking toward the goal. Smith found the back of the net for her sixth goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Later in the first half, a penalty drawn off a Flyer set piece put junior Liv Grenda in the spotlight, as the A10 Midfielder of the Year beat the keeper and buried her third goal of the campaign.
 
With rain starting to fall and play becoming sloppy, senior Eva Schreiber scored her second career goal from long range, skipping one past the keeper to give UD its 3-1 victory.
 
Senior keeper Kasey Cannistraro faced 14 shots in the match, including seven on goal, and made six saves for a new high as a Flyer.
 
Dayton finished the match with a narrow advantage in shots (18-17), shots on goal (8-7), corner kicks (6-5), and saves (9-8).
 
KEY STATS
6 – goals on the campaign for Laney Smith
11 – points this season for Reese Gallagher after notching her fifth goal of the season
1 – game winning goal for Liv Grenda, who connected on tonight's game-winner
2 – career goals for Eva Schreiber who connected on her second of the season in the second half
5 – times the Flyers have squared off with Saint Louis in the A10 Championship final during head coach Eric Golz's 10-year tenure
 
UP NEXT
Dayton plays in its second consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship final on Sunday, Nov. 15 when the Flyers travel to Saint Louis to take on the No. 1 seed Billikens. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET.

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