VALPARAISO, Ind. – The University of Dayton men's soccer team took on Valparaiso Monday night and fought its way to a 2-2 double overtime draw with the No. 25 Crusaders.

"The game was a tale of two different halves," said Head Coach Dennis Currier. "We were under a lot of pressure the first half and never found our rhythm. In the second half, the team responded very well and we were able to apply excellent pressure through the half and control the tempo. This led to two great goals. It was unfortunate to get the late penalty call with a few seconds left which led them to draw the game up. Our focus now turns to conference play."

The first ten minutes of the contest were quiet as both teams tried to feel each other out and play went back and forth. Once the pace of the game picked up, it was a midfield battle with the Flyers and nationally ranked Crusaders fighting for possession far from goal. Valpo entered the game ranked No 9 in the Division I RPI standings.

It wasn't until the 39^th minute that either team was able to strike as Valpo took the initial lead on a goal by Ramone Howell, the first of his career.

That scored held heading into the halftime break with the Flyers being outshot by the Crusaders, 6-1.

The second half began with Valpo attempting to maintain its lead by putting more players in their defensive third of the field.

Dayton was able to even the score in the 73^rd minute with a header goal by junior Maik Schoonderwoerd on the free kick assist from redshirt sophomore Michael Frasca. The tying goal was Schoonderwoerd's first of the season while Frasca picked up his first assist.

Just 10 minutes later, Flyer defender Lalas Abubakar put Dayton ahead with his first career goal at UD on the assist from sophomore Rafael Gamboa's corner kick. That put the visiting Flyers on top of the ranked Crusaders, 2-1.

With less than 30 seconds to go in regulation, a Valpo free kick set up a header by Nick Suker, tying the game up at 2-2 and forcing an overtime.

Both overtimes went by without a deciding goal and the Flyers picked up a 2-2 tie with the Crusaders, a quality performance on the road.

As a team, Dayton totaled nine shots, four of which were on goal, while allowing seven shots on goal to Valpo. The Crusaders committed more fouls than the Flyers and attempted five more corners.

Abubakar and Schoonderwoerd contributed the Flyer goals while Frasca and Gamboa picked up the assists. Goalkeeper Chris Froschauer had five saves in the 110-minute effort.

The Flyers (4-3-2) will open up Atlantic 10 play this weekend at home with conference newcomer and nationally ranked Davidson. The Wildcats are No. 3 in the country according to the RPI rankings.