DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton men's soccer team will open Atlantic 10 play this Saturday, Oct. 4 when it hosts conference newcomer No. 19 Davidson at 7:30 p.m. at Baujan Field. This will be the first ever A-10 men's soccer game for the Wildcats.

Dayton is 4-3-2 on the season and has a 4-1-2 record in the last seven games. The Flyers have wins over Ohio State, IUPUI, Jacksonville, and Detroit in that stretch, and ties  against No. 21 UAB and No. 25 Valparaiso. Head Coach Dennis Currier is in his 10th season in charge of UD.

Through nine games, Dayton is averaging 1.67 goals per game while giving up 0.78 to opponents. The Flyers are ranked third in the A-10 in points, goals, assists, and goals-against average. Individually, sophomore Brian Richards leads the team with three goals while junior Amass Amankona has two goals and three assists. Sophomore Rafael Gamboa has chipped in four assists as well, which leads the conference. Junior goalkeeper Chris Froschauer has played every minute between the posts for UD and has 35 saves and five shutouts on the year.

THE SERIES
The Flyers and Wildcats met once before, back in 2007. Davidson was victorious in that match up, 2-1 in Greensboro, N.C.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
DAVIDSON
The Wildcats enter the weekend as the No. 19 team in the nation according to Top Drawer Soccer and No. 3 in the nation in the first round of RPI Rankings. Davidson has yet to lose a game in 2014 with a 5-0-2 record overall, including a 3-0-0 road mark. Head Coach Matt Spear has the Wildcats garnering national attention in his 14th season at the helm. The biggest win to date was a 2-1 victory over No. 19 Virginia last week.

Through seven games, Davidson is averaging 2.00 goals per game while giving up half that many to opponents. The Wildcats rank fourth in the A-10 in goals and second in goals-per-game. Senior Alan Reiter is Top 5 in the league in points (10), goals (4), and game-winners (3). Junior Shane MacNamara has added three assists as well. Junior goalkeeper Matt Pacifici has seen most of the action in goal for the Wildcats, racking up 19 saves and a .760 save percentage in seven starts.

LAST OUTING
Dayton is coming off a productive outing against No. 24 Valpo in which the Flyers tied the Crusaders, 2-2 in double overtime. Junior Maik Schoonderwoerd and sophomore Lalas Abubakar provided the Dayton goals, but a Valpo score with less than 30 seconds left in regulation stole the three points from the Flyers.

Davidson, winners of three straight, last faced Campbell on the road Saturday and left with a 3-1 victory. Nathan Marder, Alan Reiter, and Drew Brown were on the scoresheet for the Wildcats.

TOUGH SLATE
The Flyers have a challenging schedule in 2014, having already played teams that are currently in the Top 25 and more coming up this season. Previous opponents that are now ranked include No. 24/21 UAB and No. 25 Valparaiso. Still to come are No. 19 Davidson, No. 18/20 George Mason, and No. 8/10 Saint Louis.

FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 455-388-73 and three NCAA tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 112-77-19 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and have six conference titles between the regular season and league tournament.

UAB ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
The Flyers had a trio of players earn honors as Lalas Abubakar, Amass Amankona, and Chris Froschauer were recognized.

ABUBAKAR NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
The Atlantic 10 named Dayton's Lalas Abubakar as the conference Rookie of the Week on Sept. 15 for his efforts at the UAB Tournament. The sophomore from Ghana played every minute and anchored a back-line that didn't allow a goal in the two-game stretch.

AMANKONA, RICHARDS NAMED ALL-TOURNEY
The Dayton Flyer Classic wrapped up on Sept. 7 with a pair of Flyers being named to the All-Tournament team. Dayton's Brian Richards and Amass Amankona were both honored for their performances in games against High Point and Detroit.

DAYTON PICKED 4TH IN A-10
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason poll and tabbed the Flyers to finish fourth in the league behind  2013 regular season champions Saint Louis, 2013 tournament champions George Mason, and NCAA Tournament participant VCU. Dayton was picked ahead of A-10 newcomers Davidson, Duquesne, and La Salle, who eliminated the Flyers from the A-10 tournament last season.

A-10 PRESEASON HONORS
Before the 2014 season, Amankona was named the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Preseason team while freshmen Dillon Nino and Lance Gaspar were named to the All-Rookie Preseason team.

PRESEASON CSM AWARDS
College Sports Madness also released its preseason All-A-10 teams and recognized a couple of Flyers ahead of 2014. Freshman Nick Hagenkord was picked as the Freshman of the Year, coming off his Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year finalist honor. Greg Enstone was named First Team All-Conference and Chris Froschauer was named Second Team All-Conference as well.

INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
The Dayton program has been known to recruit well outside of the U.S. and this year's team is no different. The Flyers have two student athletes from England, three from Ghana, one from Costa Rica, one from Jamaica, one from Canada, and one from the Netherlands, totaling nine international players. This is coming off the 2013 season in which the Flyers had 11 players from overseas.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Dayton's squad is young as far as age is concerned  with 15 freshmen making up the team. The Flyers do have faith in this class though as it is made up of an NSCAA All-American, eight US Soccer Academy participants, and a U16 USSDA National Champion. Two other players are also four-star rated recruits. The Dayton coaching staff will not be shy in letting these freshmen get on the field.

LARA RECOGNIZED AS TOP ASSISTANT
Dayton Assistant Coach Kiki Lara was honored last season as the Mid-Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Lara is in his sixth year with the program and joined the Flyers after playing professionally and collegiately.

CURRIER'S IMPACT
The head coach of the Flyers has had success at every place he has coached. Dennis Currier is in his 10th year at Dayton and holds a career record of 285-107-38 in 21 seasons and a 97-58-26 record with the Flyers. His career winning percentage of .710 ranks fifth in the nation amongst active coaches, ahead of programs like Maryland, Stanford, UCLA, and Virginia.

UP NEXT
The Flyers continue conference play when they host 2013 A-10 tournament champion George Mason at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10.  It will be Youth Soccer Day at Baujan Field.