A 'curse' reversed! Dayton girls down Western Mennonite

Coming into their home opener against Western Mennonite/Perrydale on Thursday night, Dayton girls soccer boss Pat Myer referred to his side’s six-year long winless streak against the Pioneers as “the curse.”

Consider it lifted.

Dayton, though trailing for nearly an hour, rallied to defeat Western 2-1 at Dayton High School, securing the program’s first ever win over their Class 3A/2A/1A Special District 3 rivals from down Highway 221.

Myer said that he felt like the curse was in full effect when Dayton conceeded in the 15th minute and Western dominated possession throughout the first half. But the Pirates took command after the break, dominating the pitch and making up the margin with goals by Lynsey Katzler and April Anguiano with less then 10 minutes left in the match.

Dayton moves on to play Salem Academy on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in Salem. The Pirates have won their first three matches, two of them against SD3. Western (0-4, 0-2 SD3) visits the Taft Tigers on Monday, with kickoff in Lincoln City set for 6:30 p.m. The Pioneers are still seeking their first win under new head coach Eric Foster.

CORRECTION - A previous version of this article incorrectly attributed the scoring of a goal in Dayton High School’s recent girls soccer match against Western Mennonite/Perrydale. Further video review of the play by Dayton head coach Pat Myer showed that the Lady Pioneers’ goal was scored by Sophie Mansour and was not a Dayton own goal. The News-Register regrets the error.