DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team continues its season as the Flyers head back out on the road this Saturday for a 2 p.m. ET showdown at Western Illinois.
SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers go to Illinois with a 2-0-2 record overall and are unbeaten through the first two weekends of the season with a pair of tournament titles already this campaign
Head coach
Dennis Currier is in his 14th season at the helm of the Flyers, totaling 132 victories, the most in UD history. He leads a young squad this season with 15 newcomers and just two seniors.
Through four games, Dayton is averaging 1.25 goals per game while holding opponents to 0.50 goals each outing. The Flyers are dominating in shot attempts with 19.0 per match compared to 9.5 for opposing teams.
Leading the way for UD is senior
Aidan Bean, who has two goals and four points this season, and sophomore
Trey Marchino, who has a goal and an assist. Newcomer
Laurel Aug has a team-high two assists off the bench as well. Junior goalkeeper
Federico Barrios has a 0.45 goals against average, a league-high 14 saves, and a nation-leading three shutouts in four starts.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
WESTERN ILLINOIS
Western Illinois has gotten off to a slow start to the 2018 season with a 0-3-1 record overall, including an 0-3 home record. The Leathernecks' draw came on the road at Oakland earlier this season. Head coach Eric Johnson is in his 21st season and is the all-time winningest coach in Summit League history.
The Leathernecks are averaging 0.75 goals per game and giving up 2.50 to opponents while facing a shots per game and corner kick disadvantage.
Paul Kirdorf has scored two of WIU's three goals with Xavier Brown providing the other. Goalkeeper Tim Trilk has spent the most time between the posts with 14 saves, and four starts.
THE SERIES
Dayton and Western Illinois have played five times previously with the Flyers winning three matches and the Leathernecks winning two. The last meeting came in 2017 with UD winning at home 4-1.
LAST OUTING
Dayton drew with Marshall Monday 0-0 in double overtime, but still managed to win the Dayton Tournament title.
Western Illinois lost its third game in a row with a 3-2 defeat at home to Bowling Green on Sunday. The Leathernecks gave up two goals in the first half and their own two second goals weren't enough to catch the Falcons.
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 489-414-88 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 320-133-53 in 25 seasons and a 132-84-41 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 will travel to East Tennessee State Tuseday, Sept. 11 for a 7 p.m. contest.
