Oct. 28, 2008

Alumni Blog #8

Dear Flyer Faithful,

The thrill continues! We were fortunate to come back to our favorite place - Baujan Field! Our final two home games of the year would be against Fordham and La Salle.

Our first match-up was against Fordham who just came off a big win against St. Louis. We dropped the game 0-1 last year at their place so we knew it would be a tough one especially after coming back home from a very emotional weekend. It was a special night since we honored the seniors prior to the game. We have six seniors in which four are from abroad. Our sports information department did a tremendous job in making it a night to remember. Each national anthem along with their country flag was displayed prior to the game. All seniors were emotional when their anthems were played.

We came out flying from the start of the whistle and used all the emotions to our advantage. In the 20th minute, Torda slotted a ball to the 18 and senior, Isaac Kissi ripped a shot past the Fordham keeper to make it 1-0. We had a few excellent chances to make it 2-0 but we could not convert. In the second half, Fordham really took it to us and applied fierce pressure all over the field. We have learned how to deal with pressure though and our defense maintained compactness and thwarted any threats. We had a few transitional chances but most of the half was played in our end. The defense held together though and we earned a critical win.

On Sunday, we faced a very dangerous La Salle team who had earned a big win against Charlotte. They are a very gritty team and can be tough to break down. It would take a lot of persistence but we finally earned our first goal. Popella subbed in and on his first play of the game, he broke up a pass, got down the line and served a perfect ball to Alex Torda. Soon after, we would get our second goal off a corner kick when Joe Olwig slotted the ball in the back of the net. Our set pieces have been outstanding this year and we continue to be dangerous on each one. In the second half, we took control of the match and scored a brilliant goal to make it 3-0. Our right back got deep into the attack and served it near post where Torda struck a volley to earn his second of the game. Unfortunately, we let up with five minutes to go and gave up our first goal in over 370 minutes of play. The win ended our home campaign with a 9-0 record and the second straight year of being unbeaten at home (16-0-3). Our last defeat came on October 8 of 2006. It just goes to show how special Baujan Field really is.

My sister drove in from Michigan to see the games with her son and daughter. It was great to have them cheer us on. We are a very competitive family and at half-time my daughters were called out along with my niece and nephew for the competition to kick the soccer ball nearest midline. It was good to hear my oldest daughter slotted the ball right next to half line and won the competition! Ha. I would also like to give a shout out to alumnus, Gary Long who made the journey from Northern Ireland to see us play this weekend. He was an inspirational leader during his two years at Dayton.

One of our long term goals has been to earn a national ranking. We made a five year plan in 2006. A persistent work ethic made that goal a reality today when the NSCAA selected Dayton as the 22nd ranked team in the country. It is a great honor to receive such recognition and I am very proud of the team. Furthermore, we learned that our RPI ranking shot from 104 in the country to 26th in the country which keeps our at-large bid hopes much higher than we ever expected.

There is still a lot of soccer left to be played. We take the road to Philadelphia where we have not been overly successful in the past. Temple is currently holding the second spot in the A-10 and St. Joseph's has been tough to beat at home. We end our campaign at Xavier in a rivalry game. We are three wins away from a possible lock at an at-large bid but we are one loss away from losing a lot of hype and falling out of the rankings. It will be a tough week to get some sleep- that is for sure. We are still a bit banged up with injuries but our depth continues to shine through. The boys will be playing with a big target on their backs now but the mood in the locker room has been extraordinary. I hope to be talking about two major road wins next week!

Go Flyers!