April 20, 2008

AKRON, Ohio - The Dayton Flyers concluded the spring season with a 1-1 tie over the Akron Zips and a 1-0 victory against Ohio Wesleyan.

Battling slick, rainy conditions, UD's Simeon Zaprianov scored in the first half off a restart to give the Flyers a 1-0 advantage in the first game against Akron.

However, the Zips countered moments earlier and tied the contest at 1-1. That proved to be all the scoring as the Flyers tied an Akron team that went 15-4-2 in 2007, finished ranked 14th in national polls and advanced to 2nd round of NCAA Division I National Tournament.

"I didn't think we played particularly well in terms of connecting passes today," head coach Dennis Currier said. "However, we were quite effective when we played direct. Akron compacts the midfield very well and shuts down the passing lanes. Once we got the ball into our forwards, we were able to create better opportunities. I felt the team competed very well throughout the match."

Then in game two the Flyers capitalized on a second half corner kick as Tommy Watkins found the back of the net for the only marker of the contest. It was a grind it out win for the Flyers against another team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

"The team did not respond very well in the first half," Currier said. "We had trouble possessing the ball but once the game opened up our scoring opportunities increased. Ohio Wesleyan is a well coached team and I was impressed with their resilience."

Despite the lack of offensive fireworks on Saturday, UD finished the spring season 4-1-3 overall.

"This was a good spring for our team," Currier said. "We were unbeaten against three teams that went to the NCAA National Tournament including the national runner-up. We suffered many injuries so we had an opportunity to look at many new faces in the lineup. We continue to improve which is the most important aspect of the spring. We look forward to an exciting 2008 season."