Within the first 90 seconds after kickoff, most fans realized this one could get out of hand. Dayton had two early breakaways and acres of open space before most of the players even broke a sweat, and it wasn’t long before the Flyers peppered the Fordham goalmouth with crosses, shots, dribble penetration — and ultimately goals. Dayton built a 4-1 halftime cushion and cruised to a 6-1 victory for their fifth win in a row. The Flyers improve to 6-2-0 (1-0) on the season.

The Fordham Rams, 3-5 on the year as they came into Friday’s match, had a long pregame huddle with their coaching staff before they took the field, but any words of wisdom spoken by the Ram coaches fell on deaf ears as Dayton thoroughly dominated the Bronx, NY, team in every phase of the game. While Fordham had some decent players and tried to make good things happen, the Flyers relied on old fashioned blue-collar hustle to make the outcome a formality. Hustle has been the trademark all season, and the Flyers didn’t disappoint as they won every loose ball, header, free kick, and mis-kick by turning on the jets and busting chops. At times, Fordham looked as if they were standing still, feet anchored in concrete as blue shirt after blue shirt came charging in to steal the ball away.

Two workhorses who embodied the Charlie Hustle attitude all night were senior defender Chris Harder and junior midfielder Wade Fischer. Both players caused fits all game for Fordham attackers as they won loose balls and countered with quick strikes to the offensive third of the field. UDPride acknowledges Harder and Fischer as UDPride’s Co-Players of the Game.

R.J. Kaszuba tallied a hat trick on the night while Sunday Isename scored a pair of his own — one coming on an errant clear by the Fordham goalkeeper that went straight to Isename’s foot at the 18yd line. Patrick Wirtz scored the remaining goal off a first-half cross that he buried in the corner of the net with a nifty headball. While goals were plenty, Dayton’s lone mistake all night cost them a shutout as a Fordham player cut inside the Dayton defense and let loose with a curving blast from 25yds out that found the far post side netting for the lone Ram goal of the contest. As it turned out, it was the only shot the Flyers gave up all night.

With a 4-1 halftime advantage, Coach Schureck substituted liberally in the second half and gave all of his players a chance to work up a sweat. Fordham played better soccer in the final 45 minutes but despite their better efforts however, they never seriously threatened the Flyer goalmouth. Had the Flyers not substituted liberally and converted on most of their chances — including several silly offsides calls — the score could have been much worse.

Fordham leaves Dayton with their worst loss of the season. Prior to Friday’s match, the Rams fell to LaSalle 4-1, but Dayton is quickly making its claim as the team to beat in the Atlantic-10 — even if Rhode Island remains the favorite to repeat as champions. While URI has a couple marquee wins, including a recent victory over #11 Brown, the Rams might not be as strong as last year while the Flyers appear to be playing as well as they have in nearly two seasons.

Dayton returns to action on Sunday at 1pm against LaSalle at Baujan Field.