DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton men's soccer team will head east to Wilmington, N.C. for the UNCW Courtyard by Marriott Classic this weekend. The Flyers take on host UNCW Friday at 7:30 p.m. before meeting Marist Sunday at 12 p.m.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton stands at 2-2-0 on the season after winning its last two games against Saint Francis and Belmont. The Flyers were scoreless through the first two games, but have since scored five in their last two outings. UD is 0-1 in away contests this season and has yet to play a neutral site game.

The Flyers are averaging 1.25 goals per game and allowing 1.50 goals to opponents. Dayton is averaging 17.8 shots per game, but coming off a contest against Belmont in which the Flyers shot 42 times.

UD is led by junior Nick Hagenkord, who has two goals and four points, and A-10 Rookie of the Week Rok Taneski, who has a goal and two assists. Goalkeeper Justin Saliba has a 0.96 goals against average, eight saves, and a 2-1 record this year.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
UNCW
UNCW is undefeated this season with a 2-0-0 record overall, both of which came on the road. Friday will be the Seahawks' home opener as they have already picked up victories over Campbell and UMBC.

Head coach Aidan Heaney is in his 15th season as the helm and has UNCW running on all cylinders offensively. The Seahawks rank second in the nation in assists per game, second in points per game, and second in scoring offense. UNCW is averaging 3.50 goals each contest and holding opponents to 1.00 goals and 8.5 shots per game.

Senior Julio Moncada and junior Stian Sandbekkhaug both have two goals to lead the team while sophomore Joel Byland and sophomore Ben Fisher each have two assists on the year. Goalkeeper Ryan Cretens has two wins in two starts with a 1.00 goals against average and three saves.

MARIST
Marist enters the weekend with a 2-0-1 record overall, and will meet Winthrop on Friday evening before facing the Flyers on Sunday. The Red Foxes have recorded both wins at home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. with the draw coming on the road at Albany.
As a team, Marist is scoring 2.33 goals per game while shooting 11.0 times and with a .515 on-goal percentage. The Red Foxes are giving up more shots at 15.0 per game, but holding opponents to 1.33 goals each contest. Head coach matt Viggiano is in his 10th season at his alma mater.

Sophomore Cameron Harr has had a stellar season thus far with five goals in three contests, ranking fourth in the nation in scoring. Sophomore Simo Lund Jorgensen has chipped in a goal and three assists as well. In goal, junior Mark Rajovic has a 1.24 goals against average and 16 saves.

THE SERIES
Dayton is facing both UNCW and Marist for the first time in program history.

LAST OUTING
Dayton is coming off a thrilling 2-1 double overtime victory over Belmont on Sunday after a 102nd minute goal by Kennedy Nwabia sealed the win for the Flyers. Lalas Abubakar had scored in the 57th minute to help contribue to the victory.

UNCW remained undefeated on the season with a 3-1 win over UMBC on Friday in Maryland. After trailing 1-0 in the 67th minute,  the Seahawks scored three unanswered goals, two by Julio Moncada and the final one by David Lozano.

Marist is also undefeated this season and coming off a 2-1 win over Army on Sunday. The Red Foxes defended their home field with a pair of second half goals by Cameron Harr.

A-10 HONORS
Dayton had a pair of student-athletes recognized by the Atlantic 10 on Sept. 6 with Lalas Abubakar being named A-10 Defensive Player of the Week and Rok Taneski being named A-10 Rookie of the Week. The two Flyers helped Dayton to wins over Saint Francis (3-0) and Belmont (2-1) that week.

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.

AMONGST THE BEST
UD ranks first in the Atlantic 10 in shots per game (17.74) and shots on goal per game (7.25). The Flyers are also second in the league in assists (5), goals (5), and points (15).

Individually, Rok Taneski leads the A-10 in shots per game and shots on goal per game. Nick Hagenkord ranks first in the conference in goals and goals per game.

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 473-397-81 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 303-118-46 in 23 seasons and a 115-69-34 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).

HAUPT OUT FOR SEASON
Dayton announced that it will medically redshirt senior forward James Haupt for the 2016 season. Haupt was an All-Conference performer last season and was coming off a seven-goal, seven-assist campaign for the Flyers.

UP NEXT
The Flyers will return home to host Fort Wayne on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at Baujan Field.