DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's soccer team will open up the 2022 regular season this week, as it plays host to the Toledo Rockets on Thursday, and will wrap up the two-match homestand on Sunday against the Wright State Raiders.

The Flyers return to the pitch in 2022 with an experienced roster, with 17 upperclassmen, most of which made significant contributions to the team a year ago when the red and blue went 8-2 and earned a #2 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championships.  Included in those upperclassmen is junior forward Itala Gemelli, who has now led the Flyers in points for two straight seasons. Gemelli followed up being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year in her freshman campaign by netting 12 goals and four assists to be named the A-10's Offensive Player of the Year in her sophomore season. Highlighting the senior class and defense for the Flyers in 2022 will be Mackenzie Lutz, following a 2021 season where she was named as a First Team All-Atlantic 10 defender. The Sylvania, Ohio native played the most minutes (1,584) of any Flyer last year for the second straight season, and will be a consistent presence for UD in her senior season.
Between the poles, senior Madelyn Dewey will lead a trio of talented keepers in 2022 after starting all 20 matches a season ago and posting a 10-5-1 overall record.
 
Dayton has had quite a bit of success against the Rockets over the years, boasting a 5-1-1 all-time record against Toledo. The two teams met last season in the Glass City for the first time since 2014, with Toledo besting the Flyers by a 1-0 final score.
 
The Flyers also boast a 22-5-4 overall record against Wright State in program history. More recently, however, Dayton is just 0-1-2 against the Raiders since 2013, with the last meeting between the two being a 1-1 tie in 2016.
 
The Rockets will also be playing their first match of the regular season on Thursday when they make the trip down Interstate 75 for their matchup with the Flyers. Toledo returns 24 members from it's 2021 roster in head coach TJ Buchholz's eighth season at the helm, following a season where the Rockets went 10-6-4 overall with a 5-4-2 record in the Mid-American Conference. 2021 MAC Freshman of the Year McKenna Schultz returns for the Rockets in 2022, bolstering a strong defense that averaged just 0.80 goals against per game a season ago. The Rockets reached the 2021 MAC Championships, but fell in the quarterfinal round to the Kent State Golden Flashes by a 4-2 final score.
 
A season ago, Wright State went 5-10-3 under the direction of first-year head coach Travis Sobers. The 2021 campaign featured non-conference wins at Marshall and Akron, along with Horizon League victories over IUPUI, Cleveland State, and UIC. A pair of returners in Olga Massombo and Olivia Mace received All-League honors.
 
The Atlantic 10 released the results of it's 2022 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll on Aug. 11, and the Flyers found themselves picked second amongst the league's 15 voters. Dayton also received one first place vote, with conference favorites Saint Louis receiving the other 14 first-pace votes. Along with the overall preseason poll, the conference also released it's Preseason All-Conference Team, and junior striker Itala Gemelli was the team's lone representative from Dayton.