MSOC: Flyers Soar Past Falcons 6-0

An evenly-played but lopsided first half score turned into a second half rout as the Dayton Flyers grounded the Bowling Green Falcons 6-0 Wednesday evening at Baujan Field. Two first half goals and four more tallies after intermission did the damage as UD improves to 5-3-1, while BGSU falls to 6-2-0.

The opening minutes of the first half were competitively played as both sides took turns settling the ball and looking for sustained possession to move forward with numbers. BGSU had quickness and a solid overall skill set, but the Flyers countered with more physicality across the pitch, using their beef to dig out important loose balls over the first 10 minutes of play.

A handful of quality goal-scoring opportunities materialized, most of them from tasty buildups that found UD forwards posting up near the Falcon goal box. From there, off-the-ball runs and overlaps allowed the Flyers to leverage the free space away from the ball. The strong field-awareness and spacing was persistent and eventually hit paydirt in the 14th minute when Maik Schoonderwoerd spun and shot a pass set up by a nice sequence from teammates Tommy Harr and Andrew Lightner. The buildup started out of the back and ended up with a shot to the lower far post to give UD the early 1-0 advantage.

The match continued to maintain its competitive spirit over the next 10 minutes as BGSU countered with a bevy of offensive flurries in Dayton's goal box -- helped in part by a continual onslaught of corner kicks. The Flyer back line held firm however and UD did enough inside the 18 to clear away the most dangerous Falcon scoring chances.

UD doubled its lead to 2-0 in the 24th minute on a rocketed shot to the upper corner of the far post by Kissima Bojang. The 23yd blast left the Falcon goalkeeper helpless and was entirely unassisted.

The last 20 minutes of the first half were well fought and highly entertaining. BGSU gained confidence and as the rest of the half played out, they continued to earn a greater percentage of the run of play. A diving save to the far post by GK Justin Saliba kept BGSU off the scoreboard however and the 2-0 score held up as halftime arrived.

BGSU had a 9-6 edge in first half shots and a commanding 9-2 advantage in corner kicks, but the Flyers were far more efficient on offense in spite of stats.

The second half was all Fly Boys.

Amass Amankona made it 3-0 in the 50th minute on a cleanup just outside the goal mouth. The ball crossed the plane of the goal line before it was cleared out of the air by a Falcon defender.

Michael Frasca received a give-and-go inside the box to make it 4-0 in the 61st minute. The BGSU goalkeeper encroached out of his box and got screened by a teammate, unable to see the slow squib shot directly in front of him.

Amankona would return the favor to Schoonderwoerd in the 75th minute on another cross in the box that was polished away after some nice baseline work. Anthony Keene rounded out the scoring in the 81st minute on a turn-and-shoot after sealing off a defender and collecting a pass inside the Falcon goal box. Keene appeared to trap the feed with help from an arm, but the referee saw it differently and the goal stood.

In between all the second half scoring, Dayton dominated everywhere on the pitch and methodically wore down the in-staters that bused three hours down I-75. Bowling Green seemed to not only lose the battle with UD's more physical style of play, but as the score got out of hand, so did their ability to keep their own offensive shape together. Lalas Abubakar was terrific all game and controlled the central defense, while Bojang gave UD another physical body to battle for 50/50 balls near the center circle.

Dayton's strong second half earned them the statistical victory in shots (17-15) with the most important part of the box score reflecting nine shots on frame to just three for BGSU. The Falcons out-cornered UD 10-5 but earned just one corner flag opportunity after halftime.

The Falcons sported a 6-1-0 overall record heading into the match and were expected to put up a tougher fight. For a half anyway, they were roughly Dayton's equal. But the second half Flyer onslaught proved to be the driving force behind the rout. Of BGSU's six wins, none are jaw-dropping victories over college soccer heavyweights, but the Flyers will nonetheless benefit from excellent RPI points based on BG's overall record.

UD travels to Columbus on Friday evening for a match against Ohio State.