Nov. 12, 2004

The Dayton Flyers men's soccer team fell, 3-0, to Temple in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals Friday afternoon on the rain-soaked carpet of Mount Vernon Athletic Complex at George Washington.

With steady rain pelting the artificial surface, Temple had a restart in the 26th minute from 30 yards out. Ryan Heins played the ball laterally to Tony Donatelli to avoid the wall and Donatelli ripped a shot from 25 yards away to the bottom left corner for a 1-0 TU lead.

In the 38th minute, Nate Webb got off a shot for the Owls that Flyer keeper Matt Troop (Peachtree City, GA) stopped, but Donatelli was there to bury the rebound.

Amid pools of water on the artificial surface, the second half was a slow grind as Temple took only one shot in the period.

In the 80th minute, Troop came out to challenge an un-rushing forward and after both players' skids across the turf came to a stop, TU was awarded a penalty kick, which Donatelli converted for the hat trick.

The goals, which tied an Atlantic 10 record for most in a single tournament game, were Donatelli's fourth, fifth and sixth of the season.

Dayton out-shot Temple 4-2 in the second half, but the Owls owned a 7-6 edge in the match, which was slowed considerably by the non-stop rain. With the ball sometimes dying in spots of pooled water, the Flyers were unable to maximize their speed advantage and the game was a physical affair that featured five cards and 43 fouls.

Atlantic 10 Defender of the Year Patrick Hannigan made two saves in net for the Owls as the Flyers were shutout for the first time in 11 matches. Since dropping a 2-0 decision to St. Bonaventure back on October 1 in the A-10 opener, the Flyers went on to win eight of their next 10 with 29 goals. Senior Tye Stebbins (Zionsville, IN) led the Flyers with two shots on goal and fellow senior Chris Rolfe (Kettering, OH) had one shot on target.

Stebbins was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Flyers, the number two seed, fall to 11-7-1 overall while Temple improves to 12-7-2. The Owls will meet George Washington on Sunday for the A-10 Championship after GW advanced to the final over Duquesne, 1-1, on penalty kicks. For the second-straight year, the top two seeds were knocked off in the semis by teams who had played the previous day. The A-10 expanded the post-season tournament before last season to six teams.

The winner of Sunday's championship will receive the Atlantic 10's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers most likely needed to win the auto bid to make the NCAA field, which will be announced Monday at 4:30 on ESPNEWS.