DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's soccer team will open the 2021 regular season this weekend, with consecutive road contests in the northwest Ohio area. The Flyers will battle Mid-American Conference foes Akron (Thurs., 7 p.m.), and Kent State (Sun., 1 p.m.)
 
"We're excited to have a season more resembling normalcy this fall," commented head coach Eric Golz. "We've been able to build relationships among this talented, deep group in the offseason, and we're excited to see what we can accomplish starting this week."
 
SCOUTING AKRON
Dayton and Akron met in an exhibition match a season ago, and the Flyers won by a score of 3-1. Thursday night's contest will be the third-ever regular season meeting between the two programs, with Dayton sweeping a home-and-home series in 2017 and 2018, both by 3-2 final scores.
 
The Zips finished an abbreviated 2020-21 spring season with a 3-5-1 overall record, with all 9 matches being played in the Mid-American Conference. With only the division-winning teams being invited to the abbreviated Mid-American Conference tournament, Akron would finish the conference season on the outside looking in. Averaging less than a goal per game a season ago, the Zips will again look to junior forward Sydney Worthy to pace the offense this season, after Worthy racked up 3 goals in the Zips' nine matches last season.
 
SCOUTING KENT STATE
The Golden Flashes boast a 2-0 record against the Flyers all-time, with Sunday's match-up also being the third in series history. Kent State took a home match from Dayton in 2016 by a 2-1 score, and came to Baujan field a year later and won 1-0 in 2017.
 
Kent State women's soccer enters play this fall looking to improve upon a 2-5 record in the shortened spring 2021 season. Experienced head coach Rob Marinaro and his staff will rely on a mix of returning players and newcomers to make strides in the MAC despite the departure of All-MAC midfielder Vital Kats, who graduated in the spring.
 
 SCOUTING DAYTON
Dayton will look to build off a spring season where they went 7-6-1 overall, and posted a 4-3-1 mark in Atlantic 10 action, qualifying them for a conference-record 24^th consecutive appearance in the A-10 Championships. The Flyers were picked to finish 2^nd in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, released on Aug. 12^th.
 
Sophomore forward Itala Gemelli was named to the Atlantic 10's Preseason All-Conference Team, following a spring campaign where she led the A-10 in goals scored with nine, and was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year. Gemelli was only the 4^th Flyer in program history to earn the honor of Rookie of the Year.
 
Another sophomore class stand-out this preseason has been Mia Perri. Perri appeared in 13 matches in the spring, starting five of them. She scored her first career goal in the second match of the spring season against NKU, who the Flyers will see again at Baujan Field next Thursday, Aug. 26.
 
Laney Huber is poised to make an increasing impact in the 2021 season, after appearing in all 14 matches last season with three starts. In her 464 minutes of game action, she recorded two assists, including the game-winning assist against Marshall on Feb. 28^th.
 
Stay tuned to DaytonFlyers.com for all the latest information on the women's soccer team, and follow them on social media!