The #18 Dayton Flyers played inspired soccer for a full 90 minutes, culminating in a thorough 1-0 takedown of A-10 nemesis Rhode Island before 744 vocal fans on a perfect night for soccer at Baujan Field. Dayton improves to 7-1-2 (2-0-1) while the talented Rams fall to a deceiving 4-7-1 (0-2-1).

Rhode Island, a program that’s caused fits for Dayton in recent years and given the Flyers a handful of lopsided losses in that same span, were on UD’s turf Friday night and fell victim at the friendly confines of Baujan Field for the second time in a row. Dayton got on track early and never let up, using a fierce blue-collar work ethic to win balls in the midfield that resulted in dangerous attacks into the Ram defense. Rhode Island looked quick — extremely quick — but Dayton looked a half a step faster at crucial moments to win loose balls, and that made all the difference when it was time to move players forward. Not only was Dayton hustling all out, they were playing quality soccer along with it. Players were hitting the open man in stride, moving balls to the weak side, flicking passes to teammates in dangerous positions, and by every account player fast but not too fast. And when Dayton plays fast but under control. That means trouble for opponents.

The Flyers had several great chances to score in the first 30 minutes of the first half. Forward Chris Rolfe one-timed a cross from 18yds out that would have found the corner of the net had a diving save by GK Dean Ruddy been just a blink of an eye late. Sophomore George Nanchoff almost tacked on the first goal of the match shortly thereafter after a scrum in the URI box wasn’t cleared. Nanchoff got behind a couple Ram defenders, had a chance to put one past another defender and the goalkeeper, but couldn’t finish it off. Those chances and other chances aside, the Flyers started to really heat up as things approached halftime. Rolfe would get a second chance however and this time he made it count. Collecting a ball 20yds out on the left corner of the box in the 44th minute, Rolfe steadied himself, put on a series of samba moves that eventually cracked the ankles of a defender, then took a half swing and buried a bending ball into the lower 90 of the far post in what can only be described as world class. The fans went crazy and who could blame them — most in attendance spent halftime talking about it as Rolfe’s tally right before intermission gave UD a ton of momentum heading into the second half.

Dayton had the better of the play in the first half, but Rhode Island had a couple chances of their own. Strong goalkeeping by UD’s Matt Handy extinguished URI’s best chances, but URI had another chance when a player got loose behind Dayton defenders but couldn’t collect the ball and take it to the house. Dayton’s 9-5 first half shot advantage was only a small sign of things to come however because the second half was twice as good as the first.

With UD now hitting on all cylinders, the Flyers started working the Rams over with great communication and crisp passing to players able to do good things with the ball at their feet. Defender Dasan Robinson player exceptional in the second half, winning balls and going offensive when the situation presented itself. Robinson’s speed was a big factor in the game and a reason why URI only managed three shots in the second half — compared to a whopping 19 by the Flyers.

In the middle of the field, junior Tye Stebbins was his usual self, out-hustling opponents for loose balls and 50/50s, but freshman Antti Arst did an equally solid job off the bench while giving senior Christian Porto a breather. One by one, each of UD’s players raised their game, and before long the Flyers were simply fun to watch as they starting putting it all together. Rolfe continued his exceptional performance on offense with a dozen one-touches to players either going to goal or waiting for someone to set them up for a shot. All of his touches Friday night were beyond compare as he played his best game at home in his two and a half years in a UD uniform.

Despite the shot disparity, URI did have a chance to tie the match in the waning minutes. The Flyers were awarded a penalty kick in the middle of the second half that Rolfe buried, but the referee wasn’t ready and Rolfe’s second opportunity was stoned by Ruddy to keep URI just a goal down. And with Dayton unable to capitalize on several other quality second half chances, the Rams nearly tied it late on a pair of scrums in the UD penalty box that Dayton was somewhat fortunate to turn away. Matt Handy didn’t have to make a lot of saves; in fact he was credited with just two saves to Ruddy’s 14. But one of those two saves occurred in the last five minutes and was exceptional. Handy played well in goal all night and came up big when he had to.

With UD playing perhaps the best soccer all year, it’s a great time to be on top of their game as they head into Sunday’s match against league foe and #13 UMass. The Minutemen suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss Friday night at Xavier, winners of just two matches all year. UMass, at 7-3-1 (1-1-1), will be looking to rebound and there’s no better time to do so than against the top team in the league. And that team is Dayton. As we hinted in our season preview, the Flyers had the tools to be one of the teams to beat in the A-10 this year. So far, that’s been the case. And it will be the case on Sunday too. It’s another chance for Dayton to pin another feather in the cap against a quality opponent — and gain an upper hand in the race for A-10 season title. If UD plays like they did on Friday night, UMass may be in trouble.