Dec. 1, 2008

Dear Flyer Faithful,

What a season to remember! I apologize for not keeping up with the blogs but the end of year was a whirlwind! In my last blog, we were headed to Philadelphia to try and secure an A-10 league title against Temple and St. Joseph's.

We faced a very tough opponent in Temple and we went a man down the first half and they really took it to us. It was the first time we played as a nationally-ranked team and we soon learned that the target becomes much bigger on your back. We lost 2-4. We regrouped Sunday and took out our frustrations on St. Joseph's with 7 goals to their 1. Former UD player, Steve Ladislaw and family were on hand to see the offensive display. We headed home to face Xavier in our last regular season game. Xavier is a rival game and one you do not want to lose. It was a dangerous game as they knew they did not qualify for the A-10 Tournament. However, for us, a win would secure a share of the A-10 Title and one of the top two seeds in the A-10 Tournament.

It was a very good game on both sides and our loyal fans were behind us from the start of the game. Xavier scored on a transitional goal and we had about 30 minutes left in which we did everything we could to equalize by pushing forward on every opportunity. You always seem to get a chance under five minutes to play and one under two minutes. This philosophy held true to us on the night. A penalty kick was awarded with four minutes to go and Florian DeCamps missed the shot. With five seconds to go, we ended up having a chance from three yards out after winning a knock down on a corner kick. The shot hit one of their defenders and time expired. Obviously at the time, I was devastated and wondering if our season was going to end in disaster after all of those hard-earned wins. The game of soccer can be cruel. The emotions you go through after a loss cannot be explained in words. Shortly after the game though, my youngest daughter was crossing the parking lot and almost got hit by a car. That puts things into perspective and it was the last time I thought about the loss.

The results were in- we drew the #3 seed and would have to win three games in four days on the road in Pittsburgh, PA to win the A-10 Tournament Title. The final RPI standings also came out and clearly showed we were out of the at-large picture for the College Cup. The A-10 tournament games would be played at Duquesne. Since 2005, we only played there once and were beaten 1-2 against the home team. To make matters worse, we had not won two games consecutively on the road since my arrival in 2005. Even with those odds working against us, I still had this intuition that the team would be ready. We made plans to be there for four days and packed accordingly. Our bracket included Rhode Island who just came off a great win against Charlotte that eliminated them from play-off contention and Temple who defeated us handily, 4-2, two weeks prior. If we could earn two wins, we would face the winner of St. Louis and UMass in the final game on Sunday.

In the first match, we faced a very talented Rhode Island squad that had earned their way into the tournament on the last weekend. They have won the A-10 tournament the last two out of the three years (2005/2006). URI would take an early lead to go up 1-0 which seemed to light an early fire throughout our team. We scored two goals from Isaac Kissi and Jeff Popella before half to take the lead. Early in the second half, URI would equalize. Our Flyers responded 30 seconds later with a header from Florian DeCamps to go back on top. Both teams would get more chances before the game ended but our defense held their ground and a few good saves from Tyler Picard, we were heading to the semifinal match against Temple.

Temple is an extremely tenacious team that is very well coached. They had battered us during the first half of our game at their venue two weeks prior. Their attack is well balanced and they have several different threats you have to deal with. Their back four is very gritty and tough to break down. We came at them from the start of the whistle and kept them out of rhythm for the entire first half of play. We were rewarded for our efforts in the 25th minute with a goal from Florian DeCamps. It came off a header from a corner kick. Everyone was playing their best and we were unlucky not to get 1-2 more goals before half. After the break, Temple made things very difficult as they found their rhythm. The game got out of hand with fouls coming from both sides. The intensity never subsided, nor did the pace of the game. In the 70th minute, TU drew even with a goal. Spirits were deflated but we had a lot of fight left in us. Regulation ended with the score even.

I knew we had not won an overtime game in many years, nor had we won in penalty kicks. However, I felt if any team could achieve it, this would be the one. In the first OT, we earned another corner kick. A great header was punched away as their goalie dove across the face of the goal. A second corner was also cleared from a near miss. You could feel the momentum shift our way. On the third straight corner kick, a deflected ball found Florian DeCamps head and the ball hammered the side netting for the golden goal. It was a scene one will never forget as the Flyers experienced the thrill of victory. It was a hard-earned win that catapulted us into our first A-10 Tournament Championship since 1998.

In the other semifinal match, UMass over powered Saint Louis and won 2-0. They won the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2007 at our field. In their first game last season of the tournament, they drew with us and advanced on penalty kicks - not too distant of a memory. UMass would go on to the 2007 College Cup Final Four. They clearly had the advantage in experience. UMass was also riding a nine-game unbeaten streak.

On Saturday night, a cold weather front arrived in Pittsburgh and by game time, we had 20-30 mile per hour winds, along with snow flurries. You could sense a great energy running through our team and the weather seemed to be completely out of their minds. We decided to attack against the wind in the first half believing the weather would only get worse. We had a great start to the game and took on the attack from the start of the whistle applying pressure all over the field. We had several near misses on set pieces in the early going. Finally, in the 20th minute of play, a loose ball was picked up by Zach Weiss and he hammered a shot from 18 yards out that deflected off a UMass defender and redirected the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead. Once again, I felt we were unfortunate not to go up a second goal before half. After the 15 minute half-time, the weather continued to worsen. The snow flurries picked up along with the wind, which we now had behind us.

We played well in the first 30 minutes but I had this eerie feeling that UMass would find a way to score. As the clock slowly ticked down, the big chance came. After Picard punched a cross out of the box, a UMass midfielder quickly picked it up and unleashed a shot at the open goal. From my view, the ball looked to have made its way through some traffic and heading for an equalizer. I never saw any of our defenders near the goal and then at the last second a red jersey flew across the face of the goal and headed the ball right over the cross bar. After the dust had cleared, Randy Dennis emerged from the chaos and the team all gave him a huge pat on the back. His individual effort seemed to give everyone further energy and belief.

For the last 12 minutes of the game, we fought like champions. The clock continued to tick down closer to zero. With 12 seconds to go, our midfield intercepted a pass, connected with one of our forwards who sent the ball fifty yards into the corner flag- perfect placement. I looked back at the clock and saw 7 seconds to go. I knew then we had accomplished the unthinkable.

As the clock hit zero, I couldn't really hear anything. I thought about our journey that started in 2005 and all of the hard work and dedication that so many had put into the program. Normally, I am very composed after a game but I felt this rush of energy come through me and I knew I had to get out to the boys on the field. They were jumping with joy and singing out in the middle of the field. I jogged over and leaped into one of the players- what a great feeling it was. It was one of those moments you wish could last forever. We had just won the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championship and earned our first ever NCAA National Tournament berth.

I quickly looked for Neil Sullivan who is our program director. Fortunately, he was already on the phone with Tim Wabler. I had a quick conversation with Tim and then embraced Neil. They have been major support systems to our program. Neil then informed me to look in the crowd. Dayton always has a great following so I told him I thought it was great to see everyone here. He then stated, "Look real good". At that moment, my eyes locked in on my family- they had made it without me knowing it! My wife had taken off in the early morning with my two daughters and somehow sat right behind me during the game without me knowing. I cannot run like I use to but I believe I covered that forty yards in about 4.5 seconds.

In the post-game ceremony, several of our players were rewarded for all-tournament team and then they announced: the MVP-Florian DeCamps. He had scored three goals in which two were game winners. After missing the penalty kick against Xavier, he responded by leading our team to a Championship- what a great accomplishment. We have talked about the four stages of a championship team since 2006- learn how to compete, learn how to win, learn how to deal with winning, and seizing the opportunity to win a championship. It was a five-year plan that we reached in three seasons.

I informed the team in 2006 that there would be no greater feeling then to watch Dayton Flyers be selected as one of the top 48 teams in the College Cup during the selection show on ESPN. It would be a dream of our team's from that moment on but we would have to work extremely hard to reach our goals before living our dream. On Monday, November 17th of 2008, we took the team to BW3's in a private room with a large screen television and waited for the announcement. At 6:20pm, ESPN News announced, "University of Illinois at Chicago with a record of 12-3-4 and holders of the Horizon League regular season title will host the Dayton Flyers who boast a 15-4-2 record and are Atlantic 10 Tournament Champions". You could hear a loud roar from the team.

On Friday, November 21st, we faced UIC who had earned their way into the Elite 8 in 2007. They had won the Horizon regular season title in 2008. Unfortunately, the weather turned extreme prior to the game and we played in 10 degree weather. The field froze up and both teams had trouble maintaining their balance. The game was sloppy on both ends but UIC would put together a better performance. I was extremely proud of how hard our boys fought. The defense was under a lot of pressure and our goalkeeper had an enormous game for us. We came out of regulation tied and actually almost stole the game in the last minutes with a great long range shot from Ben Murray.

After 20 minutes of overtime, the game still remained tied. The game would be decided on penalty kicks. UIC's goalkeeper has tremendous experience in penalty kicks as they had to advance last year on them in the national tournament. He once again showed his experience and saved the first two out of three. Our keeper, Tyler Picard, kept us in the game once again with a big save on their fourth kick. However, our fourth shooter would slip prior to the shot and missed wide. The season came to an end. It is always tough to end on penalty kicks and this was the second straight year we would tie our last game and not go through based on penalty kicks. However, I felt UIC deserved to go through and I was extremely proud of the fight our team put up.

The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. I appreciate all of the e-mails and cards that we received. It was amazing to see so many families traveling to our games for support. I had the opportunity to see many of my childhood friends and family members that I do not get to interact with much due to our demanding schedule. Uncle Bob even made the trip to Wisconsin this year where we would lose our first game and he vowed never to attend a match again because he was bad luck. Ha. My sister and her family made it to the UIC game along with several alumni. My wife, daughters and my mom and dad have been with us every step of the way.

It has been an experience that our entire program will never forget. We have gained a tremendous amount of experience this season and we look forward to the 2009 season. It will be tough to say goodbye to our incredible senior class of Joe Olwig, Florian DeCamps, Isaac Kissi, Alex Davis, Daniel March and Simeon Zapryanov. I appreciate all of their efforts.

Thanks so much to our Flyer Faithful!!!

Go Flyers!