Sept. 27, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio -  The University of Dayton women's soccer team is looking to pick up its fifth straight win this Friday as the Flyers hit the road to take on Atlantic 10 opponent Temple in Philadelphia (2 p.m. ET). The team will then return home for a match-up against the George Washington Colonials at Baujan Field Sunday (1 p.m. ET). Dayton enters the two-game series 7-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the Atlantic 10 and are coming off two big wins against Xavier (4-0) and Oakland (5-0) last weekend. Both games can be followed with Gametracker on www.DaytonFlyers.com.

FLYERS MAKE IT FOUR STRAIGHT BY ROLLING OVER XAVIER AND OAKLAND
Mandi Back scored her fourth and fifth goals of the season and Niki Reed posted her fifth shutout of the year as the Flyers defeated Xavier 4-0 on Friday in front of 1,200 fans at Baujan Field. Amanda Gallow tapped in an insurance goal in the 62nd minute against XU to give the UD women their third win in a row.

On Sunday, five different Flyers found the back of the net, including career-firsts for freshmen Kelly Blumenschein and Cara Cornacchia as UD defeated Oakland 5-0 to move to 7-2-0 on the season.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
The Owls (4-2-2) are coming off a 1-0-1 weekend after defeating St. Peters 2-0 on Friday and tying Monmouth 0-0 on Sunday to wrap up non-conference play. They are led on the year by junior's Jenna Rankin and Wendy Halina with three goals and two assists a piece. Goalkeeper Kara Williams has started all eight of the Owls matches, posting a 1.09 goals against average with 33 saves on the season. They are under the direction of David Jones (Elizabethtown, '86) who in his fifth year at the helm owns a record of 20-53-6. Dayton has never lost to Temple, leading the all-time series 11-0.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
After resting for nearly two weeks, George Washington (4-2-0) only played one game last weekend resulting in a 2-1 double overtime victory over Buffalo at Mount Vernon Field. Junior midfielder Keara Mehlert blasted home the game-winner against Buffalo for the Colonials, making her the team leader in goals on the season with two. Junior goalkeeper Amy Kern holds a 1.16 goals against average to go with 28 saves on the year. G-dub is 2-0 in home games so far, but is 1-1 on the road as they will travel to Baujan Field. They are coached by Tonya Vogel, who in her eighth year at her Alma Mater has an overall record of 54-69-7. Dayton leads the all-time series 8-3 over the Colonials.

SHARING THE WEALTH
 Thirteen of the Flyers 21 goals this season have been from different players. Ten of the Flyers fifteen assists have been from different players. By class, goals have been scored by a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior.

NOT SHOTS, NO GLORY
Now halfway through the season, the Flyers 21 goals makes them well on their way to topping last year's goal total (29). The team's 157 shots are just 101 shy of the 2006 total of 258.

AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
The Flyers have put themselves among the NCAA's Elite in statistics so far this season. As of September 23, the UD women rank in the top 50 of the 310 Division I teams in three different categories. They are 40th in goals per game (2.33), 32nd in Win-Loss-Tie % (.788), and 40th in shutout % (.556).

IN THE RANKINGS
Regionally speaking, Dayton went down two spots from seventh to ninth in the Great Lakes region by NSCAA while scooting up from 12th to 10th in the Soccer Buzz regional poll.

"D" IS THE KEY
The UD defense has been stifling this year. The backline has posted five shutouts so far this season and is giving up under a goal per game. After only giving up two shots on goal combined against Oakland and Xavier, the Flyer defense has now given up 38 SOG's all year, an average of only 4.2 per game. 

"REED"ICULOUS
Goalkeeper Niki Reed is off to a strong year already. The senior has five shutouts in nine games, which leads 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 .77 goals against average and a save percentage of .800.

BACK OF THE NET
Sophomore Mandi Back has picked up where she left off last season. The midfielder leads the team in shots (31) and goals with five so far this season. 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 backed up that performance with a two goal effort against Xavier last Friday.

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 203 matches there all-time, compiling an impressive 145-46-12 (.744) 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 3-1-0 at home already.

ONE-GOAL WONDERS
 Since 2003, (89 matches), more than half (55) have been decided by one goal or less. The Flyers are 33-17-8 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 double 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.

SPECIAL EVENTS
Real-time stats of most UD soccer games through Gametracker are available at www.DaytonFlyers.com.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following this weekend's matches, the Flyers remain home to host Massachusetts Friday, October 5 and Rhode Island on Sunday, October 7.