It wasn’t a thing of beauty. At times it became downright frustrating. But the Dayton Flyers overcame a poor night of soccer and still found a way to win their first contest of the season, besting the Oakland (MI) Grizzlies 2-1 in double overtime before 620 loud and energized fans at Baujan Field. Dayton improves to 1-2 on the season and plays host to Midwest power Akron University on Sunday at 1pm.

Looking to shake things up after an 0-2 start, Head Coach Dave Schureck elected to start Scott Hinshaw in the defense and move defender Michael Nsien to forward, perhaps hoping his physical presence and speed would kickstart the Flyers. With rain and lightning on the horizon all night, maybe it was a good sign that Mother Nature bored a hole over Baujan Field and gave the Flyers enough time to earn their first victory of 2001. Much like the games against Va. Tech and Cincinnati, Dayton came out of the gates well and appeared as if they’d take care of business from the opening kick. But as the first half wore on, play on both sides of the ball evened out. The Flyers had trouble connecting passes together and working the ball up field, but the same thing could be said for Oakland, and the half turned into a war of attrition, but neither side made the proverbial mistake that cost their team a goal and both squads played to a scoreless half.

With urgency at hand in the Flyer camp — urgency to win a game and win at home for the first time this year — fans were expecting a fireball performance in the second half to salt away the bad karma and grease the cylinders. But things couldn’t come together. The Flyers suffered from bad touches and miskicks, hampering their chances for some attacking punch as the game wore on. While Oakland wasn’t lighting the world on fire either, the Grizz put in good hustle and won many loose balls that led to attacks in the Flyer half of the field. Soon enough it seemed, the first side to make a serious mistake would run the chance of losing the game.
Ironically, it wasn’t a mistake that cost Oakland the first goal of the game, it was a great hustle effort by defender Mike Nsien that led to a Erik Nelson goal from 30yds out near the midpoint of the second half. Nsien fought through a defender, won a loose ball, and fed a great pass Dan Cerwinske who found a streaking Nelson — who buried a shot in the lower left corner. While Nelson took credit for the goal, it was Nsien who made it all work and demonstrated how good things can and will happen when a player sells out.

The Flyers were looking good and working on a 2-0 cushion to seal the game, but a strange series of events in the Flyer defense knotted things up a 1-1 just a few minutes later. In Dayton’s attempt to clear a ball from the box, the defense didn’t pull out fast enough to force the Oakland strikers in an offsides position. The ball was redirected over the UD defense and to the feet of an awaiting Grizzly forward who remained onside. He slipped it past GK Matt Hutchins for what proved to be one of Oakland’s only serious shots on goal all evening.

Fortunately, Oakland played a man down for the last 20 minutes due to two yellow cards being issued to the same player. Quite frankly however, it was hard to tell that Dayton had a man advantage and to Oakland’s credit, the Grizz managed a few scoring chances of their own despite the circumstances. An equally frustrating second half ended deadlocked at 1-1.

The first overtime was uneventful even though Dayton put several balls in the Oakland box hoping to find an open head or foot to redirect the ball in the net. Soon enough things moved into the final overtime period and time was running out for Dayton to take advantage of the man up or for Oakland to don the ski masks and steal one in front of a vocal crowd.

Thankfully, the Flyers put a laser beam in the box off a free kick that bounced off of someone and past the Oakland goalkeeper for the game winner. From the Baujan Field terrace, it was a mad scrum in the box and even now, I can’t be sure if it was an own-goal or a redirect from a Dayton player, but the stats say it was a Mike Nsien header that sealed Oakland’s fate. In either case, it didn’t take the luster off the win and Dayton players and coaches showed their appreciation by saluting the boisterous crowd with a round of applause of their own. As the game wore on, the crowd started rallying the team on and lifting the spirits of everyone at the game. With fans and players of Dayton soccer unaccustomed to losing — nevermind losing at home — it was a great feeling to see the support for each other on both sides of the fence. With a major role in both goals for the Flyers, Michael Nsien is Friday’s UDPride Player of the Game.

There’s no denying the fact that Friday night was not a great performance nor indicative of this team’s potential. The performance looked more reminiscent of the Va. Tech game than the Cincinnati contest, but maybe it doesn’t matter anyone. Dayton got a victory and perhaps it’s best to bury this game and not look back. There’s some confidence in the players now and the team is one game away from evening their record over a top program in the Midwest. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and Sunday against Akron is a great chance to capture it and take another step forward.

Sophomore defender Denny Clanton cracked skulls with a teammate in the first half and didn’t return to the game. His playing status is unknown.