DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's soccer team advances to the Atlantic 10 semifinals Friday as they face the No. 2 seed VCU. Fordham hosts the final games of the tournament at Jack Coffey Field in Bronx, N.Y.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Flyers enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed after going 6-2 in the A-10 during the regular season. UD finished with an 11-7 record overall.

Head coach Dennis Currier is in his 15th season at the helm of the Flyers, totaling 151 victories, the most in UD history. He leads a veteran squad this season with seven seniors and 10 returning starters.

Overall, Dayton ranks in the top five in the nation in assists, goals, and points, averaging 2.21 goals per game and holding opposing teams to 1.16 goals. The Flyers are outshooting opponents 15.6 to 13.3 this season.

The Flyers are led by four-time A-10 Player of the Week Jonas Fjeldberg, who leads the league in goals with 11 and ranks second in assists with nine.  After an impressive two-goal performance, sophomore Kingsford Adjei is second in the A-10 in goals with 10.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
VCU
VCU finished the regular season with an 6-7-3 record overall and 6-1-1 A-10 mark. The Rams are 3-4-1 away from home and have not played a game on a neutral field this season. Head coach Dave Giffard is in his 10th year at VCU.

As a team, the Rams are scoring 1.12 goals each outing and giving up 1.29 to opponents. VCU is outshooting teams 12.4 to 12.3, but at a lower percentage.

The Rams are led by redshirt-junior Biska Biyombo with five goals and four assists for 14 points while senior Ryo Shimazaki has five goals as well. Goalkeeper Mario Sequeira has 64 saves and three shutouts this season.

THE SERIES
Dayton and VCU have played seven times previously with the Flyers winning three times and the Rams winning four times. Earlier in the season, VCU was victorious over the Flyers with a 2-1 victory in overtime.


LAST OUTING
Dayton is riding a seven-game winning streak after defeating La Salle 4-0 in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinal. Kingsford Adjei scored two goals to help the Flyers survive and advance to the next round of the tournament.

VCU defeated George Mason in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals Saturday, 2-2 (4-3 on penalty kicks) at home. The Rams scored in the 68th minute and with 25 seconds left in the match to keep their season alive.

FJELDBERG SETS SCHOOL RECORD
Junior midfielder Jonas Fjeldberg set a new school record with five assists in the 6-2 victory over St. Bonaventure on Oct. 12.

TANESKI A SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE
Senior midfielder Rok Taneski was named as a Top 30 Senior CLASS Award candidate this year, the lone selection from the Atlantic 10. The award is given to a male and female athlete that exhibit excellence in community, classroom, character, and competition.

FLYERS SWEEP A-10 WEEKLY AWARDS
Dayton swept all three A-10 honors on Oct. 21. Jonas Fjeldberg was named A-10 Offensive Player of the Week, Xavier Zengue was named A-10 Defensive Player of the Week, and Toluwalase Oladeinbo was named A-10 Rookie of the Week.

BARRIOS NAMED A-10 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior goalkeeper Federico Barrios was named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30 after recording two shutouts the previous week with six saves.

OLADEINBO NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman forward Toluwalase Oladeinbo was named A-10 Rookie of the Week on Sept. 23 after scoring three goals during a two game stretch for the Flyers.

UP NEXT
If victorious, Dayton will play the winner of No. 1 Rhode Island and No. 5 Fordham on Sunday for the Atlantic 10 Champsionship.

BARRIOS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
Senior goalkeeper Federico Barrios was named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference team as the lone keeper. The Colombia native led the league in save percentage last season with a .815 mark and totaled a conference-high eight shutouts to go with 53 saves.

BARRIOS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Dayton goalkeeper Federico Barrios was named All-Tournament team at the Wolstein Classic on Sept. 1 after his performance in the two game stretch. He recorded a career-high nine saves in the contest against CSUN Sunday.

500 PROGRAM VICTORIES
With a 2-0 victory over No. 20 West Virginia on Sept. 21, Dayton recorded the 500th victory in program history. Biska Biyombo scored a brace including the game-winner in the 108th minute.

PRESEASON
The Flyers went undefeated in the two exhibition games this year, finishing with a 2-0 win over IUPUI and a 0-0 draw against Bowling Green. Both shutouts took place at home with the Flyers defending Baujan Field.

DAYTON PICKED TO FINISH 4TH
The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason poll and picked the Flyers to finish fourth with 121 points. Dayton was predicted to finish behind favorites VCU (159), Saint Louis (146), and Rhode Island (142).

FLYER SUCCESS
The Dayton men's program has an overall record of 508-427-90 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Flyers are also 140-92-26 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and have six conference titles between the regular season and league tournament.

HIGH FIVE
The Flyers scored five goals in their win over Detroit Mercy on Sept. 17 at home. It was the most goals in a game for Dayton since Nov. 1 2017 against George Mason in the season finale at Baujan Field.

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, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, Nigeria, and Colombia totaling 15 international players. This is coming off the 2018 season in which the Flyers had 12 international players.

RIGHT TO DREAM ACADEMY PLAYERS
The Flyers have a pair of players from the prestigious Right to Dream Academy in Ghana.  Newcomers Seth Antwi and Kingsford Adjei both attended the academy before their time at Dayton

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 339-146-55 in 26 seasons and a 151-97-43 record with the Flyers. His career winning percentage of .686 ranks 10th in the nation amongst active coaches, ahead of programs like Indiana, Notre Dame, Kentucky, UCLA, and Xavier.