It was the home opener at historic Baujan Field Friday evening for the UD womens soccer team and after pregame festivities to christen the newly renovated turf, the Flyers improved their record to a perfect 3-0 on the season with a 3-0 shutout of Marshall University. The Thundering Herd now fall to 0-3 on the year after succumbing to three second half goals by the home team.

The long-awaited home opener for Dayton finally arrived and the fans showed their support by filling Baujan Field with 1,177 Flyer Faithful to see what the 2003 season might offer. After some first half jitters, the Flyers got down to brass tacks in the second half and cashed in on three goals — the first three goals in the field of play this year — to win rather easily. But that doesn’t mean UD didn’t have their share of chances in the first half.

With the pre-match stuff out of the way, the Flyers managed to take control fairly early. Possession was in favor of Dayton but Marshall stayed organized in the back line and did a nice job of telegraphing passes to keep UD on their toes. The Thundering Herd also showed some nice speed in the midfield, speed that gave Dayton trouble early on. But the Flyers were the craftier side and a pair of Flyers started causing trouble. Sophomore Katie Lowstuter, always fun to watch with the ball at her feet, settled the midfield and played some great balls to the forwards that put pressure on Marshall’s defense. Up top, Beth McHugh continues to shine and proved to be incredibly dangerous when she had the chance to go after a ball in front of her. McHugh’s overall game looks a couple notches better than last year and it’s becoming apparent that she could end up the most dangerous attacking player in a Flyer uniform this year if things continue as they are. That said, the Flyers missed a couple early opportunities to get on the scoreboard and McHugh herself couldn’t convert a wide-open 1-vs-1 with the Marshall goalkeeper. Still, Dayton never panicked and the Flyer defense had little trouble carving things up in the back.

Junior outside fullback Leah Phelps had loads of free space on the right side and did a nice job of moving forward with ball after collecting a ball in the back. Behind Phelps was sweeper Erin Showalter in her usual spot and together with fellow senior Nina DiGuardi at stopper, the Flyer defense looked nearly impenetrable — at least against the offensive firepower Marshall threw at it. DiGuardi showed no ill effects of last year’s injuries and played vintage DiGuardi-Ball consisting of winning headers, making tackles, and depossessing forwards. What all of this meant was Dayton could attack directly from the back line, and by and large Marshall put up little resistance. On only one or two occasions all night did Dayton punt the ball — everything was built from the back line. The Flyers moved the ball into the offensive half of the field rather easily but just couldn’t put their chances away. Despite controlling the match, the score remained deadlocked at 0-0 at halftime.

Dayton’s fortunes changed early in the second half. Junior fullback Jen Simonetti pounced on a rebound from 25yds out that beat Marshall goalkeeper Ashley Woods to the low corner of the far post for the first score of the game in the 47th minute. Dayton would score again in the 64th minute on a nice square pass to the middle of the box from freshman Jamie Yates who collected a ball towards the touch line. Sophomore Stacy Palumbo slotted the pass against the grain and to the near post from 15yds out for her first career goal to give UD a 2-0 advantage. Not long thereafter, Coach Tucker brought in several substitutions and out came some of the starters, giving other players like Alicija Bredlo, Janelle Freckman, and Megan Borysiak quality minutes to build on.

Marshall played a nice stretch of soccer in the middle of the second half that frustrated the Flyers a bit — though the Herd never seriously threatened the goal mouth. As the game wore on, the writing was clearly on the wall however as the better side had the visitors climbing uphill. Dayton finished things off for good in the 89th minute when Bredlo took a Freckman ball and slotted it past Ashley Woods for the final nail in the coffin. It was the first career points for both Bredlo and Freckman.

Senior Stacy DeLuca started in goal and played the first half, while freshman Sarah West played the second half. West was forced to make a couple decisions, but neither goalkeeper did enough to really separate themselves. Both keepers are likely to play against #6 Virginia on Sunday.

Overall, the Flyers took care of business. Some first half rust — or perhaps even jitters — prevented Dayton from cashing in on strong scoring opportunities, but UD loosened up in the final 45 minutes and remained patient enough to allow things to fall into place. Dayton outshot Marshall 16-6 and held a decisive 9-1 advantage in corner kicks. The defense earned its third shutout in three games and looks as good as last year or perhaps even better. And Dayton continues to create plenty of decent scoring chances. As soon as the ball finds the back of the net on a few more of those chances, UD can count on outscoring a few teams this year just in case the defense has an off night.

The #6 Virginia Cavaliers arrive on Sunday. The Cavs were 2-0 with a win over Top-25 West Virginia, but lost on Friday to Ohio State 1-0 despite dominating the match. Virginia up-ended the Flyers 3-2 in the first round of the NCAAs a year ago so both sides have something to play for; Dayton wants revenge and Virginia wants to forget about Ohio State. It’s the highest-ranked team to ever play a womens soccer match at Baujan Field. Dayton will definitely have to turn things up a couple of notches by Sunday, but the Flyers have proven over the years to be able to raise their game when the stakes are elevated. This is one of those matches — maybe the biggest home match ever. UD played their best last year against Virginia. Hopefully fans will see the same on Sunday.