Nov. 2, 2008

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The University of Dayton men's soccer squad suffered its first Atlantic 10 loss on Friday (4-2 against Temple) and Saint Joseph's ended up taking the brunt of the Flyers' frustrations in an A-10 showdown Sunday at Finnesey Field, in which the Flyers dominated, 7-1. With the win, the Flyers improve their record to 12-3-2 and 6-1-1 in the A-10, retaining first place in the conference.

UD did not start off a strongly as they had hoped to, allowing SJU to put their first and only point on the board in the 32nd minute.

"We started the game off poorly and played extremely flat," said UD Head Coach Dennis Currier "When Saint Joseph's scored, it woke our guys up."

While the first 42 minutes saw no goals for the Flyers, they exploded for seven unanswered goals.

The Flyers posted their first goal of the match in the 43rd minute when junior Jeff Popella notched one in unassisted. Less than two minutes later, Dayton would take the lead into halftime as junior Alex Torda score his ninth goal of the season off a rebound.

In the second half, Dayton was all business; scoring their third goal less than a minute in. Freshman Lucas Young scored his first collegiate goal, heading the ball in off a cross from junior Sonny Renner.

Minutes later, the Flyers built a 4-1 lead as junior Ryan Handbury netted one in off a header from a free kick taken by freshman Luke Baker. This would also be Handbury's first goal of the season.

"Our offense has been fantastic, capable of breaking open the game. Scoring two quick goals in the second half was great" adds Coach Currier.

In the 65th minute, Popella tallied his second goal of the match from a free kick by Tommy Watkins to up the Flyers' lead to 5-1. Torda notched his 10th goal of the season and his second goal of the match in the 75th minute. Junior Randy Dennis set him up with a pass from 15 yards out.

Junior Ben Murray capped off the scoring for the Flyers, scoring his first goal of the season in the 85th minute to give UD a 7-1 lead. The goal was double assisted by senior Florian DeCamps and junior Ryan Hartman.

Dayton remains on the road this weekend as they travel to in-state rival Xavier on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Xavier Soccer Complex for their final regular season match.

"We need to be focused on winning. It is going to be tough playing a rivalry game at their place," said Currier. "Xavier is much better than their record shows. We need to worry about winning the game."