Dayton proved it has the firepower to come from behind and win Sunday afternoon as the Flyers overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Duquesne Dukes 2-1 in a pivotal conference matchup at Baujan Field. Christian Porto and Chris Rolfe provided the scoring as UD stays in good shape (5-2 in A-10 play) in the race for the four spots in the A-10 postseason tournament. Dayton is 8-5-1 on the year.

Windy conditions in the first half troubled both sides and neither team dominated, but the Flyers did seem to have the better of the play in the first 30 minutes. The Flyers tried to do most of their damage on the ground while the Dukes put a lot of balls in the air, especially long balls to the forwards, in an apparent attempt to catch UD napping. With Duquesne going against the swirling wind for much of the half, the tactic didn’t appear to make good sense, but the Dukes’ persistence on offense paid off in the 34th minute with the help of a Flyer mistake. Duquesne placed a ball in the Dayton penalty box but the Flyers couldn’t clear it away on three occasions, and Duke midfielder Steve Olivarez collected the ball on the left side and volleyed it past goalkeeper Matt Hutchins for the 1-0 lead.

Dayton looked capable of getting the equalizer however and kept plugging away. A couple good chances came forth before halftime and UD kept pressure on the Duquesne goal, but nothing came of it and the half ended 1-0 in favor of the Dukes.

The second half started exactly how the UD coaching staff hoped it would and things started to turn Dayton’s way. Christian Porto, who continues to have the hot foot of late, collected a perfect flick header in the box and volleyed low to the near post that beat Duke goalkeeper Terry McNelis in the 50th minute to tie the game at 1-1.

While the Flyers continued to outshoot the Dukes, much like they did against St. Bonaventure on Friday night, they were unable to generate enough quality chances to put it past the keeper. About five minutes after Porto’s goal, the Flyers found the nets again on a beautiful combination near the baseline orchestrated by Sunday Isename’s serve, but it was called back and the game remain deadlocked.

The Dukes didn’t have a lot of chances to score as the second half moved forward, but the few they did have were started from dangerous long balls that had Flyer defenders running hard to avoid a one vs. one with the Flyer goalkeeper. Duquesne earned several corner kicks late in the game but couldn’t connect.

The last five minutes were hard-fought by both sides but Dayton seemed to step it up a notch. Sunday Isename and others had breakaways down the sideline that forced the Dukes into a quick defensive bunker, and UD had their own share of corner kicks to win the game. But it was a breakaway that turned into the decider as midfielder Erik Nelson moved the ball up field and fed an open Chris Rolfe on the left side who was charging hard at the goal. Rolfe collected the ball and buried it low to the far post from 12yds out in the 88th minute to effectively stick a fork in the outcome.

Nelson had another strong game and continues to provide the physical prowess in the midfield that sets the tone for the Flyers. Setting up Rolfe’s game winner as well as winning several hard-fought loose balls in the middle third of the field throughout the contest earn him today’s UDPride Player of the Game.

Dayton outshot the Dukes 15-5, but were short on corner kicks by a count of 6-3. Sunday’s game was much like Friday’s contest with St. Bonaventure. Dayton appeared the better team, but neither side could grab a hold of things and seize it altogether.

The Flyers, who’ve won five of their last seven matches, head to Philadelphia next weekend for contests against St. Joseph’s and Temple.

They return home in two weeks for the home finales against league leaders UMass and Rhode Island.