Nov. 11, 2007

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DAYTON, Ohio - For Senior Day, the trio of Gary Long, Zac Gibbens and Tyler Imbrogno couldn't have scripted an ending to the regular season any better.

Not only did each senior significantly contribute in the Dayton Flyers' 6-1 victory over the Duquesne Dukes, but their efforts helped UD earn the No. 6 seed in the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship.

Long scored two penalty kick goals, Imbrogno added his third goal of the season and Gibbens earned his 10th win of 2007 making two saves in net.

"I suppose Senior Day is as good of any day to get your first goal," Long said. "It's been a long time coming. All we were concentrating on today and it was a team effort. We knew this was a massive game for us. There's probably any number of people on the team who could step up and today it was me. We just knew we had to get a win and under the conditions today it was difficult."

Battling rain, wind and a slick field, Dayton needed a win and help from others in the A-10 to secure a spot on the last day of the regular season. After taking care of business on the field, the players knew their moment had arrived.

"Coach told us to go into the locker room and wait as they were going to check the results," Gibbens said. "The greatest feeling in the world was when they opened the door and said `we're in.' We went nuts."

UD controlled the game throughout holding a 22-7 edge in shots and a 15-1 advantage in corner kicks. After trailing 1-0 within the first three minutes of the game, Long took advantage of his first career penalty kick and tied the game with a shot to the right side.

Dayton picked up another break when a red card was called against the Dukes in the goal box. Long took the shot and buried it to the right side again to put UD up 2-0.

"I said to the boys afterward the second one was actually hard to hit," said Long. "The first one the goalkeeper doesn't have any idea on what you are going to do. The second time they made me wait about 10 minutes and I had gone through it about 100 times in my head. All you can do is pick a spot and go for it."

The Flyers then started to find its rhythm on the offensive end. At the 38 minute mark, sophomore Randy Dennis found March on the left side open on the wing. March beat his defender and tucked a shot inside the post to put Dayton ahead 3-1.

In the second half Imbrogno scored his first goal in 14 games after pinballing a shot past the Duquesne keeper to lift the Flyers to a 4-1 advantage.

"I think we played more to our strengths and our style of soccer, which is a controlled attack," Imbrogno said. "Using a POMO style of soccer, we put the ball in a maximum spot of opportunity. We know if we do that the goals will eventually come. Today we did that and everything went right."

Toward the end of the half, DeCamps added his third of the season off a rebound in the middle of the box to push the lead to 5-1. Olwig connected off a corner kick from sophomore Zach Weiss for his fourth of the season to cap the scoring.

Dayton's six goals were a season high and much needed after being held scoreless in their previous two contests.

"More so than any other game this year, it was a do-or-die game and the guys stepped up in grand fashion," Gibbens said. "I think we did a tremendous job defensively as a team and it's one of the first games in a while we looked comfortable going forward."

The Flyers finished the regular season 10-4-4 overall and 4-3-2 in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers, will host the Massachusetts Minutemen on Thursday, Nov. 15 beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Earlier this season UD fell to UMass 3-0 on the road.

However, Dayton enters the tournament unbeaten in its last five games at 3-0-2 and went 7-0-2 at Baujan Field this season. After missing out on the tournament last year, the Flyers believe it's a great moment to enjoy and use as a springboard for postseason play.

"This is the best moment of my career here at Dayton," Imbrogno said. "Our whole goal this year has been to get to the A-10 tournament since it's her in Dayton. When coach told us in the locker room, we were ecstatic. We'll see where we can go from there."