DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team heads back out on the road to Rhode Island this Saturday at 7 p.m. at the URI Soccer Complex.
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers are 4-4-4 on the year and 0-2-1 in Atlantic 10 play as UD looks for its first conference win. Dayton is 1-2-1 on the road this year and currently riding a two-game losing skid.
Head coach
Dennis Currier is in his 14th season at the helm of the Flyers, totaling 134 victories, the most in UD history. He leads a young squad this season with 15 newcomers and just two seniors.
The Flyers are averaging 1.00 goal per game and holding opponents to 0.83 goals each outing. Dayton is outshooting opposing squads 14.7 to 11.5 each contest as well.
Leading the way for UD is sophomore
Jonas Fjeldberg, who has three goals and one assist, while junior
Laurel Aug has two goals and two assists. Goalkeeper
Federico Barrios is averaging 0.77 goals against average and has 42 saves with five shutouts.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island enters the contest with a 9-2 record overall and sits in second in the A-10 with a 3-1 league mark. The Rams have won three games in a row and are 4-1 at home this season. Head coach Gareth Elliott is in his sixth year at URI.
The Rams are scoring 2.36 goals per game and allowing just 0.82 goals to opponents. URI is outshooting opposing teams 14.1 to 10.5 and shooting at a 52.3 shots on goal percentage. The Rams also have 74 corners this year compared to giving up 40.
Leading the Rams are Dominik Richter and Stavros Zarokostas, who both have six goals each while Richter has a team-high five assists for 17 points. Edvin Akselsen has chipped in four goals and four assists as well. Goalkeeper Roger Penske has spent the majority of time in goal with 10 starts, 0.95 goals against average, and 31 saves.
THE SERIES
Dayton and Rhode Island have played 24 times previously with the Flyers winning 14 times and the Rams winning nine times. The last meeting took place in 2016 with UD winning at home, 2-0.
LAST OUTING
Dayton fell at home to Davidson in double overtime, 1-0, last Saturday at Baujan Field. A goal in the 101st minute handed the Flyers their second conference loss.
Rhode Island defeated Massachusetts Wednesday, 3-2 at home. The Rams trailed 2-0 after 21 minutes, but rallied with two first half goals and the game winner in the 67th minute.
TANESKI NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
Junior
Rok Taneski was named to the A-10 preseason all-conference team after winning A-10 Midfielder of the Year accolades last season. The midfielder finished the year in the top three in the conference in goals (10), assists (7), and points (27).
PRESEASON
The Flyers worked through a number of different lineups in the preseason, giving multiple newcomers opportunities for playing time. Dayton tied Bowling Green 0-0 in the first exhibition game. The Flyers then hosted Ohio State at Baujan Field, a match that ended 0-0.
DAYTON PICKED TO FINISH 5TH
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason poll and tabbed the Flyers to finish fifth in the league this season. With 117 points and one first-place vote, Dayton trailed preseason favorites Fordham (158), VCU (149), Massachusetts (144), and Rhode Island (124).
DAYTON WINS WOLSTEIN CLASSIC
The Flyers opened the season with a Wolstein Classic Championship, hosted at Ohio State University. Dayton drew with Hofstra 2-2 before defeating Furman 1-0 to win the title. All-Tournament team honors went to
Aidan Bean,
Isaac Mensah,
Trey Marchino, and
Elias Harryson.
FLYERS WIN DAYTON TOURNAMENT
Dayton won their own tournament and the second won in a row after clinching the 2018 Dayton Tournament title on Sept. 3 with a 0-0 draw against Marshall.
Jonas Fjeldberg earned MVP and all-tournament team honors while
Elias Harryson,
Federico Barrios, and
Agustin Volker were all-tournament as well.
FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 491-418-90 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 129-88-27 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, Finland, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Sweden, Chile, Germany, and Colombia totaling 12 international players. This is coming off the 2017 season in which the Flyers had 11 international players.
CURRIER'S IMPACT
The head coach of the Flyers has had success at every place he has coached.
Dennis Currier is in his 14th year at Dayton and holds a career record of 322-137-55 in 25 seasons and a 134-88-43 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.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return home to host La Salle on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at Baujan Field at 7 p.m.
