It’s another year and UD women’s soccer is once again upon us. That means it’s time to scout the team from top to bottom and answer all of the pertinent questions. Dayton has ruled the Atlantic-10 for six consecutive years, but are things about to change? You’ve come to the right place to find out. Nobody does it better than we do and nobody has done it longer. Without further ado, let’s dive right in and take a look at the 2004 Flyers.

LOOKING BACK

Last season proved to be a year of many twists and turns. Just when it looked like the Flyers’ reign of five straight A-10 regular season titles would not extend to a sixth, a couple late-season upsets in the last two weekends of the A-10 season among conference foes helped Dayton keep the streak — and conference dominance — alive and well. The team refocused and put together their best soccer of 2003 in the Atlantic-10 tournament, winning the automatic bid into the NCAAs for their fourth appearance in the big show in the last five seasons. But just as quickly as they hit their stride in the A-10 tourney, the Flyers never gave themselves a chance against Ohio State in the NCAAs, and the season ended with a 3-0 loss to the Bucks. For the first time in four appearances, Dayton didn’t play their best soccer when it counted the most — in the Dance. That aside, it was another very successful year that included two A-10 titles and a postseason berth. But consistency remained an issue from start to finish as the high and lows came and went. Perhaps some unfinished business was left on the table. Maybe the Flyer dominance that seemed so matter-of-fact in prior years was beginning to marginalize. Maybe 2004 is the year Dayton finishes as the bridesmaid with key losses in the senior class and improving foes around the A-10? It’s certainly possible. But those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. And those who forget UD has been the team to beat since 1998 may find out the hard way yet again that the Dayton Flyers continue to set the standard. Not every prize fight is a knockout punch, but victory has no sliding scale.

PERSONNEL LOSSES

Every year it seems like the departed senior class will be impossible to replace — at least initially. And yet new players always step up to fill the void. The voids are there once again as Shannon Kuhl, Beth McHugh, Judi Aschenbrener, Erin Showalter, and Nina DiGuardi comprised perhaps the most successful senior class in Flyer history. The defensive losses are substantial and the midfield takes a hit too. All of them brought something special to the team; playmaking, opportunity, speed, and experience. Showalter was a two-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Year. McHugh possessed the most speed of any Flyer in years. Aschenbrener was a steady upperclassman and Kuhl led the team in scoring. And DiGuardi, while battling injuries for much of her career, supplied the toughness in the back line. Dayton also says goodbye to Janelle Freckman and Jaime Yates, two sophomores-to-be that elected to leave the program. All of them were used to winning and that mindset will be difficult to replace.

THE RETURNEES

Key starters and reserves return. The depth in the returnees should ease the burden of replacing the personnel losses. The Flyers must lean on the veterans like they always do, but this year perhaps more than others because of the large freshmen class. Ask any upperclassman and they will tell you things look different through the kaleidoscope the older one gets. Coaches can coach talent, but they cannot coach experience. Players either have it or they don’t.

Dayton’s experience starts right where you want it to: between the pipes. Sophomore Sarah West played in 19 of 22 matches as a true freshman, starting 11. Fifth-year senior Stacy DeLuca started eight games. And while Amanda Kuntz played just one half in goal, she’s good enough to start at many programs. West suffered from knee problems last year and those bugaboos may hamper her ability to play in the first part of the 2004 season. But that shouldn’t be a problem because DeLuca and Kuntz are more than capable goalkeepers. In fact, the Flyers have the deepest and most talented goalkeeping trio in the conference. Perhaps another team has the league’s best keeper, but nobody has three as solid as Dayton.

Helping to keep the heat off the goalkeepers, UD returns three veterans in the back line. All of them should be season-long starters. Junior Jacqueline Luehrs typically plays left back and has been a part-time or full-time starter from the beginning. On the right side is senior Leah Phelps. Both Luehrs and Phelps bring many of the same defensive qualities on the wing — speed and consistency. While both don’t stand a whisker over 5-3 and take on the burden of size mismatch problems on a nightly basis, neither let it affect their game. They are pesky and they are annoying; two very good adjectives for a defender. After a concussion-filled 2003 season that limited her to just eight matches, senior Jen Simonetti returns to the defense and appears to have the green light from the doctors again. Simonetti, a First Team A-10 selection as a sophomore and preseason nominee in 2004, will find most of her time at stopper where she excels at winning challenges in the air and on the ground. She’s also a capable threat at moving the ball forward into space. Junior Alicija Bredlo, the lone Canadian on the roster, reportedly had a great spring and summer campaign and could be one of the surprises this year. Bredlo saw action in eight games and scored once last season. She may split time in the back line and also midfield.

The midfield, a longtime Flyer strength, will be senior Tesia Kozlowski’s to mold. Another First Team A-10 nominee this year, Kozlowski has the physicality and creative touch on the ball to be the dynamic player the Flyers need to make things happen in the middle third of the field. She scored just three times last year but dished out 11 assists, easily tops on the team. Six more assists and Kozlowski will own the career record at Dayton. UD will need some more scoring punch from her this year with the loss of leading scorer Shannon Kuhl. She’s more than capable. The talent is there to be the most dangerous midfielder the Atlantic-10 has.

Working next to Kozlowski will be a trio of juniors who continue to get better. Junior Laura Boland started 19 of 21 games in 2003 and has the tools to be a reliable scorer. She tallied just one goal and three assists as a sophomore despite the minutes played but might be the player with the most to gain. Boland must take more shots and become more assertive because the skills are there to be among the team leaders in scoring. Junior Katie Lowstuter is a different kind of player. The Flyers look to her for the dynamic foot skills that give her the ability to change directions and find players on the weak side with aplomb. She does equally well at moving forward with the dribble. A goal-less 2003 season shouldn’t happen in 2004. If Lowstuter can fend off more players with her upper body this year, Dayton will benefit. Junior Stacy Palumbo has worked in the back line but appears ready to contribute in the midfield. No player has worked harder on her game than Palumbo and no player has come farther over the last two seasons. She’s a strong dribbler and is the consummate high-energy player. When the ball doesn’t find her, she finds the ball. Every midfield needs a player like that.

Sophomore Jaime Monahan, a midfielder, saw action in just two games a year ago but should benefit from the experience gained and find herself moving up the pecking order in 2004.

At forward, things should once again revolve around junior Reba Sedlacek. She finished second in scoring last year (7 goals) and added six assists. Sedlacek is the designated enforcer up top and uses her size to push defenders around. Nobody shields the ball and distributes accordingly better than her. While not blessed with breakaway speed, she does her best work with her back to the goal, feeding and filtering the ball to other areas and other players. She makes everyone around her better. Senior Jessica Melvin’s game is quite the opposite. What she lacks in physicality she makes up for in speed. Melvin has proven to be a very opportunistic player in the past. With two goals and one assist in 2003 (16 matches and 6 starts), that’s a another realistic benchmark in 2004. Junior Meghan Borsyiak appeared in 15 matches a year ago. She tallied two assists in two exhibition matches last week. Borysiak has good speed and hustles. With the coaches looking for a few other players to take on the scoring load, veterans like Melvin and Borysiak will be counted on.

THE NEWCOMERS

Ordinarily we’d go through each newcomer and highlight their credentials, but this year is the exception. When a freshmen class consists of 11 players, we draw our line in the sand. What we can tell you is the class is deep and talented. Speaking in general terms, the class fills several needs in the program. No one need more important than another, but no need any less important than improving team speed. That might sound redundant but it’s not. To play and win against the top teams on the schedule, team speed is the equalizer Dayton must possess to have a chance of winning. Other teams will field more gifted players, but speed and athletic ability can hide a lot of weaknesses. We think this class adequately fills the void. While no incoming player has the speed of departed firecracker Beth McHugh, as a collective unit they improve the sum of the parts in the program.

Time will tell as to which frosh will make an immediate impact and who will need more seasoning. What we do know is the 2004 class comprises the first class boasting two former HS All Americans. Prior classes included just one. But Kristin Persichini and April Carbajal follow a distinguished lists of HS All Americans in the program including Holly Young, Missy Gregg, Judi Aschenbrener, and current Flyer Tesia Kozlowski. Persichini should find immediate playing time in the midfield or defense — perhaps sweeper. Carbajal re-injured a knee that required surgery and will redshirt. Amy Lopez played well in the two exhibition matches. The coaches evidently saw enough in practice to give her the start at forward in each game, and from what we saw, we think Lopez will contribute early. She has among the best tandem of speed and foot skills on the team. Local product Courtney Sirmans, a six-footer, will see quality minutes in the defense and has the physical tools to do many of the same things Erin Showalter made a living at.

Rounding out the freshmen class, newcomers Natalia Walters, Dara Elk, Jen Leslie, Anna Russell, Michelle Bruck, Gretchen Giner, and Ali Foust will all be in the mixer to earn minutes. With nearly half the team comprised of freshmen, they won’t have a choice. They must be ready to make an impact for the Flyers to continue the winning tradition.

THE SCHEDULE

The Flyers continue to do their best to schedule tough non-conference opponents to get the team ready by the start of the A-10 slate. Depending on your point of view, the non-conference schedule is either borderline incompetence or clever. That’s because the first six games of the 2004 campaign are on the road. We think it’s clever scheduling and a schedule Dayton can and should do pretty well against. Four of the six games are in the state of Ohio, leaving just one significant road trip: A flight to Florida for a pair of games against #12 Florida and Sun Belt favorite Central Florida to open the season. After that, the Flyers return home and drive across town for a match with Wright State, then follow it up with a match at Cincinnati. The last two matches include a pair of games against LSU and Virginia Tech in Columbus at a tournament hosted by Ohio State. We think the traveling wear-and-tear from prior years might have taken a small toll. Past trips to California, Wisconsin, and South Carolina all wrapped up in the same season isn’t easy. The Flyers should find at least three or four wins — perhaps five if things go well. UD hosts Oakland in the home opener on Sep. 19 and sandwiches a game at Xavier — the conference opener — with the last non-conference match of the year against Butler at Baujan Field.

The conference schedule always swings favorably or unfavorably because A-10 contenders UMass, Richmond, GW, and Rhode Island are lumped into the same Flyer home/away model. This year those foes must travel to the unfriendly confines of Baujan Field and we like Dayton’s chances against these teams and those on the rest of the schedule. Improving Duquesne is another team forced to play Dayton on the road. The rest of the league is up-and-down so we’re not sure venue matters for the remaining matches. If we see a stumbling block on the road, it’s at Xavier. While UD has owned Xavier’s number over the last 4-5 years, the Muskies are improving and all bets are off in a backyard rivalry. All things considered, the Flyers were picked by the A-10 coaches to finish first in the league and looking at the schedule alone, Dayton has the easiest path – not to say the path is easy.

STRENGTHS

We like team depth, overall team speed, and most importantly, tradition. The coaches have done an outstanding job of communicating the importance of honoring past players by keeping the winning tradition alive. Many great players have helped build the program into what it is today. The expectation is there to win the A-10 regular season, A-10 tournament, and advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Nothing less appears acceptable and nothing less is the goal. The Flyers know what it takes to get there, unlike the rest of the league. In fact, no team but Dayton has felt that success over the last six seasons.

The defense and midfield should once again be a strong point. The return of Jen Simonetti for a full season — provided she stays injury-free — will only help the cause. There’s enough upperclassmen to hold things together until the frosh learn the ropes. Finally, goalkeeping looks solid across the board.

WEAKNESSES

Dayton has taken on several top-flight programs on the schedule in past years but has yet to earn a breakthrough victory against a Top-10 or Top-15 club in the regular season. Last year’s 1-1 draw against #6 Virginia at Baujan field was the best result so far, but sooner or later Dayton must start winning games — more than likely on the road — against nationally-ranked competition. Perhaps there are fewer chances this year than others, but chances will continue to cross Dayton’s path. National exposure from big-time victories goes a long way. Most importantly however, they legitimize the program. Could this be the year UD gets that big win?

With 11 frosh on the roster, it’s the youth movement at Dayton. Several pups must learn to bite quickly. If the maturation process is slower than needed, Dayton may have trouble finding the right combinations on a day-to-day basis when random players are having a rough day and substitutes aren’t ready or able to fill the void.

Injuries remain the unknown. Last year it wasn’t a numbers game, but injuries hurt players that weren’t replaceable with just a single player. Bumps and bruises are just part of the game and most players have to play through varying degrees of pain and suffering. If a couple key starters go down for extended periods, things could get interesting.

THE VERDICT

Call us shills, but we like Dayton to repeat for a seventh A-10 regular season title in a row. The non-conference schedule is demanding but not brutal, and the conference schedule gives UD a chance for victories at home against all of the contenders. A lot of frosh must grow up fast, but starters return at all areas of the field, leaving no single area in need of a major overhaul. And that’s the key. There’s experience peppered throughout, and although the experience doesn’t go much deeper than the starting lineup, it may be enough. If Dayton can avoid the bad conference loss, plays with a little more consistency, and play unselfish soccer for 90 minutes a night, there’s no way we’re betting against the perennial favorite.