Two goals from Chris Rolfe and one a piece from Omar Jarun and defender Richie Campbell proved to be the difference in a 4-0 victory over the LaSalle Explorers before 666 fans at Baujan Field. The Flyers improve to 10-6-1 (7-3), while LaSalle — on the verge of missing the A10 postseason tournament — falls to 8-7-1 (5-5). The afternoon was also the last home showing for seniors Nick Sulich, Steve Ladislaw, Tye Stebbins, and Rolfe. Ladislaw deferred to freshman GK Matt Troop on the afternoon while serving a red card suspension.

The first half was one of the more inspired efforts of the 2004 home schedule. The Flyers did a fantastic job of winning loose balls — especially in the air — to gain control of the time of possession and parlay that into quality scoring chances on goal. UD put the heat on early and tested the LaSalle defensive line with a flurry of balls in the box or penetration off the feet from mids and strikers breaking loose on the wings. The Explorers did enough to turn the Flyers away at the beginning, but too many excellent UD chances continued to plague them and before long a mistake in the back line would cost LaSalle a goal.

It wasn’t a mistake so much as it was a terrific individual play that put Dayton on the board first. Not long after substituting into the match, midfielder Damion Blackburn chased down a ball to the far right corner and put on a nasty stop-and-go move after fienting towards the inside. Instead, Blackburn twisted back to the endline and placed a perfect far post cross that beat the outstretched arms of LaSalle GK Stash Graham. Omar Jarun dialed it in and put away the uncontested header to give UD a 1-0 advantage in the 20th minute. Jarun got the goal, but it was all Blackburn.

UD continued to hustle everywhere on the field and challenged the opposition with some of the best tackles of the season. With Dayton playing a physical brand of soccer, LaSalle had no choice but to counter with a similar style. For the most part, they managed to push back. And sometimes it got the better of junior Dasan Robinson, who lost his cool on one occasion yet somehow avoided the plastic. Nevertheless, Head Coach Dave Schureck’s team maintained a stranglehold on the match and had the better of play whenever it really counted.

Several other quality scoring chances came and went but it was UD’s defensive presence that carried things and gave UD all the scoring opportunities. Somewhat plagued by hot-and-cold team defense all year, Sunday’s effort was mostly hot and players kept form in all areas of the field, preventing the Explorers from pressuring GK Matt Troop with dangerous shots on goal.

Persistence paid off in the 42nd minute when freshman defender Richie Campbell finished off a header in the box shortly after a Flyer corner kick resulted in a flurry in the box. Aaron Swanson and Nate Darr both had chances at it, and were ultimately credited with assists. The 2-0 score would hold as halftime came. UD outshot LaSalle 9-3 in the first 45 minutes and had a 2-1 edge in corner kicks.

LaSalle made a goalkeeping change at halftime, relegating Graham — perhaps the league’s best keeper and a former A10 Defensive Player of the Year — and elevating Kyle Perdelwitz for second half duty. Perhaps it was purely tactical, but Graham didn’t appear to have a poor first half or suffer an injury. In the meantime, UD came out with much of the same personnel they ended the first half with.

Dayton kept up the heat to start the second half despite having the gusty wind in their faces. Play remained physical and UD did some nice work on the ground, without completely giving up on the long ball to forwards running into space. For a 15 minute stretch however, LaSalle picked up their game and had the better of play, including most of the possession and quality scoring chances. But the freshmen defensive duo of Campbell and Devin McKenney proved sharp all afternoon. Robinson — after spending time in the offense in past games — found himself in the back line once again where he seems most comfortable. Junior Nate Darr cleaned up things in the middle of the defensive line in routine fashion and all of these forces allowed Troop to command the box without having to make a spectacular play — though he did extend from goal to punch out several dangerous balls in traffic.

After UD’s short cooling off, they turned things up again shortly thereafter and returned to form. Rolfe collected his first goal of the match in the 71s minute on a free kick from 21yds out that beat the LaSalle defensive wall and Perdelwitz to the low left corner. Rolfe would add his second of the day in the 85th minute on a rebound off a Tye Stebbins challenge from 8yds out on the left side. The Flyers, up 4-0, put things on cruise control for the remaining minutes to salt the game away.

Overall, UD outshot LaSalle 16-14, but were outshot 11-7 in the second half. UD had the better chances however because nine shots were on goal compared to just six for LaSalle. The Explorers were also out-cornered 3-2.

Sophomore Antti Arst got his first start in a while and did a number of good things throughout the match. Omar Jarun had one of his better outings of the season and used his size to help give the Flyers some physicality up top to go along with the creative flair of Rolfe and others.

With the victory, UD remains alone in second place in the A10 conference standings with one match to play. Duquesne, whom the Flyers beat earlier in the year, remains in first place. If the Flyers beat Xavier next weekend, UD secures a first round bye in the A10 conference tournament the following week as the #2 seed. Combined with a Duquesne loss to St. Bonaventure — an unlikely scenario — Dayton would win the A10 conference by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker and earn the #1 seed. A Flyer loss at Xavier and a Temple win over St. Joseph’s would relegate the Flyers to the #3 seed and necessitate a quarterfinal match. Assuming the current standings hold form in the final weekend of the regular season, UD will face the highest remaining seed in the A10 tourney semifinals. What’s most important is winning at Xavier and reducing the wins needed to earn the NCAA automatic berth from three to two. Whom UD faces after that is relatively unimportant.

Visit the mens soccer forum on the UDPride message board soon for photos from today’s match.