Dayton Flyers

The University of Dayton women’s soccer team reported to preseason camp today to start preparations for the defense of its Atlantic 10 title and for a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships.

The Flyers will spend the weekend at the Athletes in Action campus in Xenia, Ohio for team bonding before returning for their first training session on Sunday, Aug. 7. They will also undergo fitness testing that evening with strength coach Mark Thobe.

The team will continue two-a-day training sessions leading up to their exhibition match against Michigan on Friday, Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. at Baujan Field. Admission is free to all UD regular season home games. Following the exhibition, the Flyers will hold a free soccer youth clinic for those signed up.

The Flyers open the regular season a week later on Friday, Aug. 19 in Murfreesboro, Tenn. against Middle Tennessee, the 2010 Sun Belt Tournament champs.

Dayton returns 18 letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 19-3-1 and won the A-10 Tournament Championship. The Flyers’ entire defense returns this season, including 2010 A-10 Defensive Player of the Year senior Kathleen Beljan. Junior Katherine Boone, the league’s 2009 Defensive Player of the Year, is back in goal for the Flyers. Senior Kelsey Miller and junior Alysha Mallon round out the defense.

Colleen Williams, who was second in the country in goals last season with 18, is a junior and back up top as a scoring threat for the Flyers.

Head Coach Mike Tucker is back for his 17th year at the helm for Dayton. He holds a career record of 235-83-23 and UD has won seven A-10 tourney championships and 10 regular season titles in that time.