DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team will return to action at Baujan Field this Wednesday at 7 p.m. as the Flyers host Oakland. The Flyers enter the week with a 2-4-2 record overall and a 2-1-1 home 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 1.00 goal and allowing the same to opposing teams. Dayton is out-shooting opponents 120 to 88, but shoots at a .067 percentage compared to allowing a .091 mark.

UD is led by freshman Thor Helgason, who has three goals in seven starts, and sophomore Rok Taneski, who has a game-winning goal and two assists. Senior Alvaro Navarro has a team-high three assists in seven games. Sophomore goalkeeper Federico Barrios has 36 saves and a 0.95 goals against average while starting all eight contests.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
OAKLAND
Oakland comes into the contest with a 2-5 record on the season and a 1-1 Horizon League mark. The Grizzlies are 1-3 on the road this season under 10th year head coach Eric Pogue.

The Grizzlies are scoring 1.29 goals each game while giving up 1.86 goals to opponents. Oakland is out-shooting opponents percentage wise with a .532 shots-on-goal percentage.

OU is led by Nebojsa Popovic, who has three goals and one assist while Austin Ricci and Nyal Higgins both have two goals this season. Sullivan Lauderdale, Wes Mink, and Liam McQueenie have all seen two more more games in goal for the Grizzlies with the former starting the last outing.

THE SERIES
Dayton and Oakland have met 18 times previously with the Flyers winning three games, the Grizzlies winning 10, and five draws. The last meeting came in 2016 as Oakland picked up a 1-0 win over Dayton at home with a goal in the 21st minute.

LAST OUTING
Dayton suffered its third straight loss with a 1-0 defeat at Western Michigan Wednesday. The Flyers gave up the decisive goal in the 22nd minute as the losing skid continues.

Oakland picked up a big 3-0 win at home against IUPUI Saturday, ending a five-game losing streak. The Grizzlies had goals by Nyal Higgins, Nebojsa Popovic, and Austin Ricci.

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.

FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 481-409-86 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.

UP NEXT
The Flyers will head back out on the road to take on West Virginia Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in Morgantown, W. Va.