DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team will head back out on the road to take on Northern Kentucky Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. at NKU Soccer Complex in Highland Heights, Ky. Dayton enters the week with a 2-2-2 record overall and a 0-1-1 road mark.
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Head coach
Dennis Currier is in his 13th season at the helm of the Flyers, totaling 123 victories, the most in UD history. He returns a veteran squad this year with seven seniors, two of the top three goal scorers, and both goalkeepers from last season.
The Flyers are averaging 1.33 goals per game while holding opponents to a 1.00 mark. Dayton benefits from a cornerkick advantage, and has 100 attempts compared to opponents' 57 shots.
UD is led by freshman
Thor Helgason, who has three goals in six starts, and sophomore
Rok Taneski, who has a game-winning goal and two assists. Senior
Alvaro Navarro has a team-high three assists in five games. Sophomore goalkeeper
Federico Barrios has 26 saves and a 0.93 goals against average while starting all six contests.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Northern Kentucky will try to continue their strong start to the season thus far. The Norse enter the game with a 3-1-1 record, but have won two of their past three games. Head coach Stu Riddle is in his debut season as the leader of the NKU soccer program.
The Norse are even with their opponents in terms of goals per game at a 1.40 clip. In their five games this season, they have both scored and allowed seven goals. However, the Norse gave up five of those seven goals in a 5-2 loss to UC Irvine. NKU has more shots on goal than their opponents this season, with a 30-22 advantage.
NKU is led by sophomore Rikard Lindqvist, who has four goals and nine total points for the Norse this season, which ranks in the top 15 in the nation. Junior Tom Suchecki complements Lindqvist, with two goals and one assist this year. Redshirt junior Jim Bareki is the main goalie, and has given up only 1.24 goals per game along with 11 saves on the season.
THE SERIES
Dayton and Northern Kentucky have played three times previously with the Flyers winning all three contests. In the last meeting in 2015, UD scored three goals in the second half to seal a 4-0 victory. Current Flyer
James Haupt scored the opener in that game.
LAST OUTING
UD finished the 2017 Dayton Flyer Classic with a tough 1-0 loss to Liberty at home on Sunday. A goal in the 32nd minute ended the Flyers' chances of winning their own tournament title.
Northern Kentucky defended its home turf in a 1-0 win over Belmont Saturday. The Norse got a goal from Tom Sucheki via penalty kick in the ninth minute to keep the unbeaten streak alive.
HELGASON NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
On Sept. 5, the Atlantic 10 Conference named Dayton freshman
Thor Helgason the A-10 Rookie of the Week. The Icelandic native led the team to a 4-1 win over Western Illinois and led the team through the first two weeks in scoring in four starts.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Dayton was 5-2-1 at Baujan Field last season, including 2-1-1 in A-10 play. The 2017 Atlantic 10 Championships will be played at Baujan Field this season on Nov. 10-12 in the new format of the postseason. The A-10 Quarterfinals will be played on the campus sites of the Top Four seeded teams before the semifinals and finals will take place the following weekend in Dayton.
PRESEASON
The Flyers worked through a number of different lineups in the preseason, giving multiple newcomers opportunities for playing time. Dayton tied Bowling Green 1-1 in the first exhibition game with the goal coming from an own goal by a BGSU defender. The Flyers then went to Milwaukee and suffered a 5-3 loss to the Panthers. UD trailed 5-0 in the second half before a late surge saw three goals by the Flyers in 14 minutes. Freshmen
Thor Helgason and
Trey Marchino both scored and assisted in the contest while Taneski assisted one and senior
Lance Gaspar assisted twice.
FLYER CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
The Flyers had three players named to the All-Tournament at the Dayton Flyer Classic on Sept. 10. Sophomore goalkeeper
Federico Barrios, freshman
Thor Helgason, and redshirt junior
Nick Hagenkord all received All-Tournament team honors. Liberty won the team title.
DAYTON PICKED TO FINISH 4TH
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason poll and tabbed the Flyers to finish fourth in the league this season. With 122 points, Dayton trailed preseason favorites Fordham (162), Saint Louis (153), and VCU (147). Despite being picked to finish ahead of the likes of Rhode Island, George Washington, and Duquesne, UD didn't have anyone named to the preseason All-Conference squad.
FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 481-408-86 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 123-83-26 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, Iceland, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, England, Panama, and Colombia totaling 11 international players. This is coming off the 2016 season in which the Flyers had 10 international players.
FLYERS ADD NEW ASSISTANTS
Dayton men's soccer announced the hiring of
Brendon Boucaud to the staff in June 2017 followed by the addition of
Alex Ranalli in August 2017.
Boucaud joins the Flyers after a stint coaching at his alma mater, Central Methodist University in Missouri. While there, he helped CMU to a 25-10-3 record in two seasons, guiding the team to national rankings, All-American honors, and the best season in program history. Boucaud played at CMU collegiately before plaing professionally in Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, and the U.S.
Ranalli comes to Dayton from nearby Ohio State University, where he played from 2013-16 and coached in 2017. He received his NSCAA National Diploma after a successful career with the Buckeyes. As a player, he was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team three times and was a member of the 2015 Big Ten Championship team. Prior to OSU, Ranalli played one season at Akron where he was part of the 2012 MAC regular season and conference champions.
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 311-127-51 in 24 seasons and a 123-78-39 record with the Flyers. His career winning percentage of .690 ranks eighth in the nation amongst active coaches, ahead of programs like Notre Dame, Louisville, UCLA, Xavier, and Virginia.
ABUBAKAR IN THE PROS
Lalas Abubakar became the latest Flyer to join the professional ranks after being selected No. 5 overall in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by the Columbus Crew. The former A-10 Defender of the Year has had a strong debut season for the Crew and continues to develop in his rookie campaign. He recently scored his first professional goal against Orlando City and was named to the MLS Team of the Week.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will remain on the road as they head to Western Michigan Sunday for a 1 p.m. ET contest against the Broncos.
