Oct. 4, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio -  The University of Dayton women's soccer team continues Atlantic 10 Conference play this weekend with home matches against UMass (6-1-1, 1-1-0 A-10) and Rhode Island (7-2-1, 2-0-0 A-10) at Baujan Field. The Flyers take on the Minutewomen Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Rams Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET. Both games can be followed with Gametracker at . High-powered offenses will clash this weekend as Dayton, Rhode Island, and UMass are one, two, and three respectively in the conference in goals per game. Sophomore Mandi Back currently leads the conference in goals scored with eight, while URI's Deb Nelson is tied for second with seven.

FLYERS MAKE IT FIVE STRAIGHT BY ROLLING OVER XAVIER AND OAKLAND
After falling down by two goals to Temple early on, freshman Kelly Blumenschein put the Flyers on the board but it was too little too late as the UD women received their first conference loss of the season in the 2-1 decision on the road on Friday.

On Sunday, the Flyers bounced back in a crushing 5-1 victory over George Washington at Baujan Field. Mandi Back scored a hat-trick and Kristen Persichini and Lauren MacCormick each scored their second goals of the season to move the Flyers to 8-3-0 on the year.

SCOUTING THE MINUTEWOMEN
The Minutewomen (6-1-1) are coming off a 1-1 weekend after defeating St. Joseph's 3-0 on Friday and losing their first match of the season to Duquesne 3-2 on Sunday. They are led on the year by Sydney Stoll with six goals and two assists and Britt Canfield with four goals and seven assists. Goalkeeper Kristin Walker has started all eight of the UMASS matches, posting a .66 goals against average with 44 saves on the season. They are under the direction of Jim Rudy (Rollins College, '72) who in his 20th year at the helm owns a record of 304-146-24.

Dayton leads the all-time series 9-3-0.

SCOUTING THE RAMS
The Rhody's (7-2-1) went 2-0 last weekend with a 4-1 win over St. Bonaventure and a 1-0 shutout of Temple to remain a perfect 2-0 in A-10 play. They are led on the year by Deb Nelson with seven points and three assists. Goalkeeper Jackie Fede holds a 1.08 goals against average and has four shutouts on the year.

Dayton leads the all-time series 9-3-0.

"REED"ICULOUS
Goalkeeper Niki Reed is off to a strong year. The senior has five shutouts in 11 games, which lead the Atlantic 10. Her eleven career shutouts put her in fifth place on the all-time shutout list at UD. Despite giving up four goals to Cincinnati (the most she's given up to any team in her career), Reed still has a .92 goals against average and a save percentage of .778.

BACK OF THE NET
Sophomore Mandi Back has picked up where she left off last season. The midfielder leads the team in shots (44), goals (8), and points (17). She was tabbed Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday Sept. 17 and named to the Soccer America Team of the Week on Tuesday Sept. 18 after her two goal and one assist performance at the Gopher Invitational. Mandi scored her second career hat-trick on Sunday against George Washington. She is currently 34th in the nation in goals per game with a .727 average.

SHARING THE WEALTH
Thirteen different players have scored at least a goal for the Flyers this season. Seven different players have scored at least two goals. Twelve of the Flyers 20 assists have been from different players. By class, goals have been scored by a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior. The Flyers rank 40th among NCAA Div. 1 teams in goals per game with 2.33.

NOT SHOTS, NO GLORY
A little over halfway through the season, the Flyers 27 goals put them just two away from topping last year's goal total (29). The team's 202 shots are just 56 shy of the 2006 total of 258. The UD women are ranked 31st in the nation in goals per game with an average of 2.44. The Flyers lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in all offensive statistic categories except for assists and assists per game.

IN THE RANKINGS
Regionally speaking, Dayton went down two spots from seventh to ninth in the Great Lakes region by NSCAA while remaining at ninth in the Soccer Buzz regional poll.

"D" IS THE KEY
The UD defense has been stifling this year. The backline has posted five shutouts this year and is giving up under a goal per game. After giving up a combined 11 shots on goal against Temple and George Washington, the Flyer defense has now given up 49 sog's all year, an average of only 4.5 per game.

SCHEDULE STRENGTH
The Flyers' 2007 slate features four teams that advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament (Saint Louis, Michigan, Loyola Marymount, and Oakland).

FORECAST
Atlantic 10 coaches have released their predictions for how the final standings of the 2006 women's soccer will turn out. The Flyer women have been selected to finish second behind defending A-10 champion Saint Louis.

HOME COOKIN'
Baujan Field, which the Flyers have called home since 1984, has been quite an imposing place for visiting teams. UD has played 204 matches there all-time, compiling an impressive 146-46-12 (.745) record in that period. Dayton has never lost more than five times in one season (5-5-0 in 1996) and has been perfect at home three times (6-0-0 in 2001 and 8-0-0 in 1987 and 8-0-0 in 2004). UD won three times at home last season (3-3-1). This season the Flyers are 4-1-0 at home already.

ONE-GOAL WONDERS
Since 2003, (90 matches), more than half (56) have been decided by one goal or less. The Flyers are 33-18-8 in those close-calls, despite going 4-5-3 last season. UD had won 12-straight (including both in the A-10 Championship) in 2004, before the 2-1 loss in overtime to Wisconsin in the NCAA First Round. Last season 12 of UD's 18 matches were decided by a goal or less.

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
All time, UD is 24-13-15 in overtime matches, but an impressive 18-6-11 under Tucker. The loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament First Round three years ago was UD's first overtime defeat since the 1999 season. This season, the Flyers are 3-0 in overtime matches.

FOR HOME GAME TICKET INFORMATION
Contact the UD Ticket Office at 937-229-4433. Soccer prices are $5 (adults), $3 (children), and group rates are available. UD students are admitted free with ID.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following this weekends matches, the Flyers head to Duquesne Friday Oct. 12 and St. Bonaventure on Sunday Oct. 14.