PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The University of Dayton men's soccer team scored four goals, including three in the second half to take a 4-0 win over Saint Joseph's in the 2014 regular season finale Sunday.
"The guys played well with a lot of pressure today," said Head Coach
Dennis Currier. "We played good soccer all weekend, but were just unlucky on Friday night. We came out Sunday with same amount of intensity and applied pressure all over the field. We were relentless in our pursuit and broke a string of games with a lack of confidence on our part. We scored some great goals and kept a clean sheet. I'm happy with how the guys performed. We knew we had to focus on winning and not worry about other results."
The win was No. 100 for Coach Currier at Dayton in his 10 years with the program.
The Flyers were the more aggressive team from the beginning of the contest and utilized set pieces to put attempts on goal early on.
It would only take 14 minutes for Dayton to get on the board as sophomore
Rafael Gamboa's corner kick found the head of senior
Ryan Peterson, who placed the ball just out of reach of the Saint Joe's keeper. That gave the Flyers the early 1-0 lead on the road.
Saint Joseph's began to settle in defensively and hung with the Flyers in shot attempts, but the Flyers were the only team to find the back of the net.
At the half, Dayton's one-goal advantage held as the Flyers recorded seven shots, two of which were on goal.
The tempo of the game slowed down at the start of the second 45 minutes, but after 20 minutes, the pace picked back up.
In the 64
th minute, sophomore
James Haupt received a deep pass from Gamboa on a perfectly timed run with only the keeper to beat. The striker kept calm and slotted his shot pass the Saint Joe's goalkeeper for the second UD goal of the contest.
Just two minutes later, junior defender
Maik Schoonderwoerd added to the Flyers' total with a goal of his own, on the assists from junior
Amass Amankona and Haupt. It was Schoonderwoerd's second goal of the season and Amankona's team-leading eighth assist.
Dayton was not done however and scored again with four minutes remaining in the contest when junior Kissma Bojang delivered a crushing strike to the back of the net from 20 yards out to make it 4-0 in Dayton's favor.
The Flyers ended the regular season on a positive not with a four-goal thumping of Saint Joseph's on the road.
Dayton received goals from Peterson, Haupt, Schoonderwoerd, and Bojang on the day. The Flyers out-shot the Hawks 19-9 and put nine on target Sunday, and were not called offsides once.
The Flyers (7-6-5, 3-3-2 A-10) finished the regular season and will now head to the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Richmond, Va. The bracket will be released Sunday evening.