Dayton tied Michigan State 2-2 in East Lansing, Mich., and then tied St. Bonaventure 0-0 in its Atlantic 10 Conference opener. It then beat Massachusetts 1-0 on Sunday at Baujan Field.
Dayton is 6-1-3 through 10 matches one year after being 8-1-1 at the same point.
“We have a bit of an older team this year,” Golz said. “They have been through some successes together, some challenges together. They’ve been through a lot together as a group. That bond, that trust is pretty deep and genuine. Culturally and character wise, I think they’ve done a good job of integrating the new players — the freshmen and transfers. It’s a pretty tight-knit group. We’ve been through some wars together, and I think that shows on the field.”
Noel Blain leads the team with five goals. Madison Wilson and Mairin Wessner each have three. Nine players have at least one goal.
“More people are scoring on our team than previous years, which is good,” said Blain, a junior forward. “Teams don’t really know who is going to score each game. Anybody can really have that opportunity.”
Dayton plays nothing but A-10 games the rest of the way. The first of eight remaining regular-season games is Thursday against Davidson (3-5-1, 0-1-1) at Baujan Field. Dayton then plays at defending champion Saint Louis (7-2-1, 2-0) on Sunday.
“We’ve had an amazing season so far just because of our team in general,” said captain Marlee Taylor, a fifth-year senior midfielder. “We have a really good environment every day at practice. Everyone just genuinely wants to be there.”
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