DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team returns home from a two-game road stretch to host Incarnate Word Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at Baujan Field.
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers are 3-1-2 on the season and 1-0-1 at home. Dayton is on a one game winning streak and has suffered just one loss this year.
Head coach
Dennis Currier is in his 14th season at the helm of the Flyers, totaling 133 victories, the most in UD history. He leads a young squad this season with 15 newcomers and just two seniors.
The Flyers are averaging 1.17 goals per game and giving up just 0.50 goals to opponents. UD is outshooting opposing squads 16.5 to 10.0 and has a 44 to 19 corner kick advantage.
Leading the way for UD is junior newcomer
Laurel Aug, who has a goal and a team-high two assists for four points while senior
Aidan Bean has two goals. Sophomores
Jonas Fjeldberg and
Trey Marchino both have a goal and assist each as well. Goalkeeper
Federico Barrios is second in the A-10 in saves (21) and save percentage (.875).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
INCARNATE WORD
Incarnate Word comes to Dayton still looking for its first win of the season, sitting at 0-4-1 on the year. The Cardinals are 0-3 on the road in the early stages of the campaign. Head coach Chris Fidler is in his first season in charge and serving as the interim coach.
The Cardinals are scoring just 0.40 goals per game but allowing 2.60 goals to opponents. UIW does have a shot attempt advantage, but trails in shot percentage and shots on goal percentage.
The leaders for the Cardinals are Kas Vaneekelen and Thomas Bibby, who have both scored for UIW. Goalkeeper Carlos Mercado has made five starts with a 2.50 goals against average and 12 saves.
THE SERIES
Dayton and UIW have met one time previously, back in 2013 with the Flyers winning that contest 3-2. Saturday will be the second ever meeting between Coach Currier and his former team.
LAST OUTING
Dayton defeated East Tennessee State on the road Tuesday, 2-0. Fjeldberg and Aug scored in the second half to power the Flyers to their third win of the season.
Incarnate Word suffered a 3-0 defeat at home against Oral Roberts on Sunday. The Cardinals gave up two goals in the second half as they remain winless on the season.
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, another 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 490-415-88 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 129-86-26 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, 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 321-134-53 in 25 seasons and a 133-84-41 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 heads back out on the road for the third away game in four games as they travel to Rochester, Mich. to face Oakland Tuesday for a 7 p.m. contest.
