DAYTON (OH) — The Dayton Flyers scored twice in the first half and overcame a ragged second half and flurry of yellow cards to outlast winless Houston Baptist 2-0 Friday evening at Baujan Field. Dayton improves to 1-3-0 while HBU falls to 0-4-0.

After taking a trio of lumps against nationally-ranked Kentucky, Notre Dame, and Indiana, the Flyers opened up their home schedule of the 2011 season against a program also on the skids. UD needed a win (of any kind) to build confidence and a pair of winless squads duking it out guaranteed one of them would find their first victory of the season.

Houston Baptist, a newcomer to D-I after working their way up from provisional status, gave the Flyers far less resistance than prior foes on the UD schedule, allowing Dayton to work the ball on the ground with sustained possession for the first time this year. With UD controlling the ball in the first half, they found gaps in the midfield and players open on the touch lines looking for quality service. HBU also lacked the size and physical tools of those aforementioned Top-25 opponents, allowing Dayton to win loose balls and transition from defense to offense more effectively.

Dayton got on the board first with a well-timed cross to the far left post that sat up nicely for an Abe Keller header in the 10 minute. The pressure and attacking chances continued over the next 20 minutes as the match took place mostly in the Houston Baptist defensive end. A short scrum in the box led to Victor Duru cleaning up a loose ball from 12 yards out in the 29th minute to put the Flyers up 2-0.

With UD up a pair of goals, things appeared to be on cruise control and the remaining 15 minutes of the half were much like the first half hour. HBU’s best scoring opportunities came on quick counter-attacks, but they lacked the size to match up with the Flyer back line. The UD defense played tough-minded and did well to clear dangerous chances whenever a decisive tackle or header out of the box was needed.

By intermission, UD owned a 7-5 advantage in shots and 4-2 edge in shots on goal.

Unfortunately, that’s all the scoring fans would see Friday evening as the Flyers struggled mightily in the second half to put quality strikes on frame. While Dayton continued to move forward with sustained possession, things broke down near the box with shots sprayed all over the pitch or a lack of patience and composure to make the extra pass to free up a teammate heading for paydirt. HBU’s defense did just enough to keep the second half scoreless, though they often looked out of position and gave up large chunks of real estate in exchange for keeping the run of play mostly in front of their back line.

As the second half wore on, the run of play turned increasingly chippy with yellow cards getting served every few moments. All told, nine yellows were issued, with two Houston Baptist players sent off with red cards in lieu of rough play or habitual dissent. Dayton played the last 25 minutes up a man and the last eight minutes up two men, but the overall level of play never really improved despite the numbers advantage.

In fact, both sides were guilty of reducing the soccer to a second half of whining, embellished dives, and poor sportsmanship. Rather than let the soccer do all the talking and take the high road like a veteran squad, neither side could resist the temptation to mask the somewhat shaky level of play with a sideshow of uncontrolled emotions. For a pair of winless teams, there was far more to prove technically and the captains of both sides should have straightened out their squads with a stern lecture on the pitfalls of losing match focus.

All that said, Dayton notched their first victory of the season and though the competition was lightweight, it probably doesn’t matter for a squad as young and inexperienced as the Flyers. Winning oftentimes spawns more winning. UD must play better each time they take the field however as most of the obvious shortcomings still exist.

Match stats favored the Flyers in shots (19-11) and corner kicks (6-5).

UD finishes the weekend on Sunday afternoon against Western Illinois. WIU lost a hard-fought 3-2 match in the Friday matinee against Butler. The Flyers would gain a huge shot in the arm by sweeping the weekend with a pair of victories.