The Dayton Flyers scored early, then scored late to break a 1-1 halftime tie for their sixth win in a row after falling to Top-10 Florida in a hard-fought match to open the season. Reba Sedlacek opened the scoring in the sixth minute of play on a ball she slipped past the approaching Oakland goalkeeper from short range. Oakland added the tying goal just four minutes later under very similar conditions. Junior defender Alicija Bredlo answered with the game-winner on a header in the 83rd minute to seal the deal. Oakland, a longtime Great Lakes Region contender, falls to 2-5.

On the surface, a generic recap might point to a Flyer team that struggled all evening to put away a sub .500 opponent. In fact, one might argue that the Flyers ran into problems all too familiar — finishing scoring chances offensively. Truth be told, the Flyers need to finish better and had opportunities Sunday evening at Baujan Field. But the Flyers also played very well for 90 minutes and the fact that Oakland kept it close — and fairly competitive — is an indicator of the strength of the Oakland program, more so than an indictment of any Flyer woes. Tactically, UD looked sharp for the most part and had total control of the possession game against a program among the most well-coached in the GL Region. Fans saw good soccer from the home team and even some shaky finishing and execution in the red zone can’t dull a strong performance in all other areas of the game.

Dayton got off to a great start, taking possession early and forcing their way into the Grizzlie defensive third of the field. Oakland goalkeeper Jessica Howard, who looked marginal all evening and seemed a weak point on their team, was tested just minutes into the match. Junior forward Reba Sedlacek, ever the opportunist, plowed her way toward the goal and slipped a shot to the near post after beating Howard off the dribble. But Oakland, who never generated much offense all night despite showing excellent tactics of their own, tied the game up a 1-1 in the 10th minute on a play similar to Sedlacek’s. Marianne Samdal took advantage of some sloppiness — or perhaps miscommunication in the Flyer defense — and tucked a ball to the near post that beat UD goalkeeper Amanda Kuntz as she approached to challenge. It was Oakland’s only offensive chance up to that point, and they generated little in the way of scoring chances for the remainder of the half. The Grizzlies’ best chances came on set pieces within striking distance, but none of them required Kuntz to make a tough play.

On the other side of the ball, the Flyers stuck to their game plan and controlled things until halftime. Despite a 9-4 edge in shots, Dayton was more or less having their way with things. They moved the ball extremely well and found players wide open on the weak side time and again. Players were playing together, communicating, and appeared to be on the same page — nevermind the execution of those intentions. Dayton left several passes short throughout the evening, especially in the second half, but it was readily apparent that UD was the team to beat as long as chances kept coming.

The Flyers stepped things up in the second half, putting even more pressure on the Oakland goal and forcing the Grizzlies to play defensive-minded. And after a while it appeared Oakland bunkered themselves in whenever Dayton brought the ball forward. That kept UD from tacking on goals, but it also meant Oakland’s own offense flew south for the winter. The Flyer back line of interchanging players — Bredlo, Simonetti, Phelps, Luehrs, and Sirmans — had their way with things and were forced to contest only a handful of potential troubles. All told, UD outshot Oakland 17-2 in the final 45 minutes. Again, Coach Mike Tucker’s team moved the ball well, played intelligently, and did everything needed against a good opponent with the exception of keeping form in the last 20yds. The midfield looked strong all evening. Junior Katie Lowstuter was a big help in that department as she used her foot skills to change directions and create space in places where Oakland looked vulnerable.

Dayton’s persistence paid off in the 83rd minute when junior defender Alicija Bredlo put away a header off a corner kick to give Dayton the 2-1 lead, good enough to effectively salt the game away and avoid overtime.

Junior midfielder Stacy Palumbo, after missing a few games, is back on the pitch and looking strong. Her game is all about tempo and Palumbo has to be among the leaders in takeaways. Tesia Kozlowski and Laura Boland used their size in the middle to keep Oakland’s breakaway chances to a minimum. Freshman forward Amy Lopez looked very sharp. Her strength remains in her dribbling and breaking down defenders one-on-one. She has the speed to get by once she makes her move too, and the coaches need to keep pestering her to play north and south as much as possible because her foot skills are needed when there isn’t time to hold possession and wait for teammates to build a scoring chance.

Despite Oakland’s 2-5 record, they are a quality program. They do everything right, they just didn’t do it as precise or as quick as the Flyers. They are well coached, well-disciplined, make few mistakes, and have enough individual talent to compete very well against schools in the Great Lakes Region. Their two wins are against regional power Marquette and Syracuse out of the Big East. Dayton handled a very good team very well for 90 minutes. Oakland, NCAA participants over the last three years, could very well make it four in a row as they get into conference action and have the coaching and tactical tools to pull off a couple more upsets as the season continues.

There remains plenty of room for improvement for Dayton. Finishing in the box is a priority. So too playing a bit more north-south. At times the Flyers back-pass to relieve pressure that doesn’t exist when there’s ample room to move forward and ambush. The skills are there to do so and if they trust those weapons as the season progresses, those unnecessary back-passes will turn into flicks and slices that carve up teams with a numbers disadvantage.

The Flyers get the week off before traveling to Xavier in the A-10 conference opener Saturday evening. Xavier, suffering hard times in recent years after battling with UD for league supremacy, is a major underdog in this one. Coach Tucker feels the Flyers can set a season record for wins. We do too, provided they take each game one at a time and understand that from here on out, every opponent has Dayton circled on their schedule. That means playing “just good enough” usually never is when you are a marked team.