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The University of Dayton men's soccer team will return home from a four-game road trip to host in-state foe Ohio State at 1 p.m. Saturday for Alumni Day. The Flyers then turn around and head to Valparaiso Monday for a 6 p.m. contest with the Crusaders.

Dayton enters the weekend with a 3-3-1 record overall. The Flyers have won three of their last five games, including their last home contest, a 3-0 victory over Detroit on Sept. 7. UD is looking to repeat its performances against OSU and Valpo from last season in which the Flyers beat the Buckeyes 3-1 and the Crusaders 2-0.

On the season, Dayton is ranked third in the Atlantic 10 in points (35), goals (12), and assists (11). The Flyers also boast the second stingiest defense in the league, allowing just 0.69 goals per game. Sophomore Brian Richards leads the team with three goals while sophomore James Haupt and junior Amass Amankona have chipped in two apiece. Eight different Flyers have scored at least one goal this season already. Goalkeeper Chris Froschauer has played every minute, totaling four shutouts, 28 saves, and a 0.848 save percentage.

THE SERIES
The Flyers are 18-19-6 all-time against Ohio State, including the win in Columbus last season. Dayton has faced Valparaiso just once in school history. This will be UD's first trip to Valpo.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes come into Saturday's game with a 2-1-3 record, both wins of which have come in the last three games. OSU holds victories over Northwestern and Elon, but has suffered a loss to Penn State and tied UC Davis, Butler, and UNC-Wilimington. Head Coach John Bluem is in his 18th season at Ohio State and has nine starters returning from last year's team.

Through six games, OSU is averaging 1.00 goal per game while holding opponents to 0.67 per contest, despite being out-shot by 3.3 shots per game. Yianni Sarris anchors the offense with two goals and an assist while Liam Doyle has two goals as well. Senior goalkeeper Alex Ivanov has 30 starts under his belt and was Second Team All-Big Ten in 2013. The Strongsville, Ohio native has made 29 saves and posts a .879 save percentage in 602 minutes of action this year.

VALPO
The Crusaders have gotten off to a strong start to the 2014 season with four wins and a tie in seven games. Valpo has already defeated Butler, Michigan State, Western Illinois, and Loyola Chicago and tied NC State and Davidson. The Crusaders will face Belmont Friday before hosting the Flyers Monday. Head Coach Mike Avery is in his eighth year at the helm.

This season, Valpo has averaged 0.86 goals per contest and held opponents to just 0.43. The stingy Crusader defense is led by goalkeeper Nico Campbell, who has 25 saves and four shutouts in six games. Jordan James is the leading scorer for Valpo with three goals, all off the bench.

LAST OUTING
Dayton battled 2013 National Runner-Up Maryland on Monday night and dropped a close 1-0 decision on a penalty early in the first half. The Flyers had chances to even the score, but the No. 2 preseason team fended off the Dayton assault. It ended a streak of four straight shutouts and three wins in the last four games for UD.

Ohio State played Penn State on the road Sunday in Big Ten play and fell to the Nittany Lions, 1-0.  Despite goalkeeper Alex Ivanov's season-high 10 saves, a Penn State goal in the 63rd minute was enough to send the Buckeyes to 1-1 in conference play.

Valpo was victorious over Loyola Chicago Tuesday 1-0 in an overtime affair. The Crusaders got a goal in the 95th minute from Zev Taublieb, his first of the season to lead Valpo to its fourth win of the season.

FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 454-388-72 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 their 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 their 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. Enstone was named First Team All-Conference and 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 for Coach Currier at Incarnate Word.

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 284-107-37 in 21 seasons and a 96-58-25 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 open up Atlantic 10 play with conference newcomer Davidson at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 4 at Baujan Field.