CLEVELAND STATE:       LIVE STATS     I     LIVE VIDEO
WESTERN MICHIGAN:    LIVE STATS    I     LIVE VIDEO

DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton men's soccer team will open up the 2016 season on Friday with a road contest at Cleveland State at 7 p.m. The Flyers then follow that up with their home opener on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Baujan Field.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton is coming off a 2015 season in which the Flyers went 13-5-5 and 5-1-2 in Atlantic 10 play. UD finished second in the league in the regular season, but went on a tear in the A-10 Tournament picking up the fourth tournament championship in program history. The Flyers hosted Oakland in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing on PK's. UD eventually fell in the Second Round on PK's to Ohio State.

The Flyers boasted the nation's No. 1 offense in 2015 with 58 goals, a new school record. Dayton averaged 2.52 goals per game while holding opponents to 1.22 goals each contest. The Flyers had a .418 shots on goal percentage compared to opposing teams' .361 mark.

Senior James Haupt is the top returning scorer with seven goals to go with seven assists in 2015. Fifth-year senior Michael Frasca brings back four goals and seven assists while senior defender Lalas Abubakar is coming off a First Team All-Conference, First Team All-Ohio, and First Team All-Region season. Senior Justin Saliba and junior Oliver Hansen split time in goal last season.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
CLEVELAND STATE
The Vikings finished the 2015 campaign with a 9-8-2 record overall and a 4-3-2 conference mark in the Horizon League. CSU had a 3-3-2 record at home as well.

Through 19 games, the Vikings scored 19 goals and recorded seven shutouts. CSU had a .403 shots on goal percentage and 181 attempts total.

Leading the Vikings are junior Jake Lagania, who led the team in goals (5) and assists (6) in 2015. Hesham Hammouda and Sergio Manesio both chipped in three assists apiece. Senior goalkeeper Aleksandar Drobac had 13 starts in goal with a 0.73 goals against average.

WESTERN MICHIGAN
The Broncos are coming off an 11-4-4 season in 2015 and a 3-1-1 MAC mark. Western Michigan found most of its success at home with a 7-1-2 record in Kalamazoo.
WMU ranked sixth in the nation last year in save percentage with a .836 mark. The Broncos also had the second-best shutout percentage and fourth-best team goals against average. Through 19 games, WMU had a 1.37 goals per game average and shot .397 on target.

The Broncos lost their top three scorers from last season, but return Brandon Bye, who matched last season's goal total in the preseason alone. He also chipped in four assists while Edu Jiminez comes back with a team-high six assists in 2015. Goalkeeper Drew Shepherd is back for his junior season after 13 starts and a 0.33 goals against average last year.

THE SERIES
The Flyers and Vikings have met six times before with Cleveland State taking five of those meetings. The last time the two teams faced off was in 2015 with UD defeating CSU 4-1 at Baujan Field. Frasca and Haupt both scored in that win.

Dayton and Western Michigan have played 11 times in program history with both teams recording four wins and three draws. The Flyers drew with the 18th-ranked Broncos on the road last season, 1-1 in double overtime.

LAST OUTING
Dayton is coming off a tough 1-0 loss to SIU-Edwardsville in the final exhibition game of the preseason. A late goal by the Cougars in the 85th minute handed the Flyers the loss.

Cleveland State fell in its final exhibition game 3-0 to Saint Francis, a future opponent for Dayton. The Vikings gave up a goal in the first half and two more in the second to finish the preseason winless.

Western Michigan picked up a 2-0 win over DePaul in its final exhibition game at home on Sunday. The Broncos recorded a pair of goals from Brandon Bye, both in the  second half.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Dayton was 6-2-1 at home in 2015, outscoring opponents 32-6 at Baujan Field. All time, the Flyers are 140-49-18 with a .720 winning percentage.

OFFENSIVE POWERHOUSE
The Flyers led all of Division I last season with 58 goals in 23 games, good enough for a 2.52 goals per game average. The next closest team to Dayton was Akron with 2.33 goals each contest.

SUMMER SUCCESS
Dayton had a trio of student-athletes win championships with their respective summer teams. Lalas Abubakar won the PDL Championship with the Michigan Bucks, earning league Defender of the Year honors and All-PDL accolades. Coleton Long and Anthony Flowers won the NPSL Championship with AFC Cleveland. Both players were named to the NPSL Second Team Supporters XI.

PRESEASON
The Flyers had a rough start to the 2016 campaign with a 0-0 draw to Milwaukee at home and a 1-0 loss at SIUE in exhibitions. The nation's leading offense last year was held scoreless in the preseason.

A-10 EXPECTATIONS
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason men's soccer poll and tabbed Dayton to finish second in the league this season. The Flyers tied A-10 favorites Saint Louis with five first-place votes, but was edged out in total points 153-150. UD finished the regular season in second last season, but won the tourney title.

ALREADY ALL-CONFERENCE
Along with the Atlantic 10 preseason rankings, the All-Conference and All-Rookie teams were announced with a trio of Flyers recognized. Senior defender Lalas Abubakar was named Preseason All-Conference while newcomers Daniel Dos Santos and Bennett Lehner were named to the All-Rookie Team.

FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 471-397-81 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 123-82-23 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and have six conference titles between the regular season and league tournament.

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 student-athletes from Ghana, Costa Rica, Denmark, Spain, Nigeria, Switzerland, Slovenia, England, and Colombia totaling 10 international players. This is coming off the 2015 season in which the Flyers had nine international players.

FLYERS ADD NEW ASSISTANT
Dayton men's soccer announced the hiring of Tyler Kettering to the coaching staff this past summer. He joined the Flyers after playing and coaching at Gardner-Webb since 2003. As a player, he led the nation in saves twice (2004, 2006) playing goalkeeper. Kettering is a native of nearby Xenia, Ohio.

CURRIER'S IMPACT
The head coach of the Flyers has had success at every place he has coached. Dennis Currier is in his 12th year at Dayton and holds a career record of 301-116-46 in 23 seasons and a 113-67-34 record with the Flyers. His career winning percentage of .700 ranks fifth in the nation amongst active coaches, ahead of programs like Notre Dame, Louisville, UCLA, Xavier, and Virginia.

AMANKONA IN THE PROS
Amass Amankona recorded one of the best seasons in Dayton men's soccer history last year, sweeping Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, A-10 Midfielder of the Year, and First Team All-Conference honors. He also was named All-American, Academic All-American, MAC Hermann National Player of the Year Finalist, and Senior CLASS Award Finalist. Amankona was drafted by Real Salt Lake in the third round of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. He is currently playing for their feeder team Real Monarchs.

TITLE REPEAT?
In 2015, Dayton won the Atlantic 10 Tournament title, its sixth in program history. The last time the Flyers won the A-10, they went on to win the regular season title the following season (2009).

UP NEXT
The Flyers will remain at home next weekend for two more games at Baujan Field. Dayton hosts Saint Francis Friday at 8 p.m. and Belmont on Sunday at 4 p.m.