With the UD soccer season approaching the halfway mark, it’s a good time to take a look back at the first half and see where the chips have fallen for the mens and womens programs.

Men’s Soccer

On the mens side, we anticipated the Flyers to seize momentum from last year’s record-setting year that posted a 14-4-2 record and won a share of the A-10 regular season title. The losses of All-American RJ Kaszuba, GK Jeff Krempec, Patrick Wirtz, and Chris Harder were expected to be significant, but not something the returning Flyers and newcomers couldn’t overcome. We felt the absence of Harder in the central defense might turn into the biggest hurdle, and, halfway through the 2001 season, it’s beginning to look that way.

Dayton had a rough go of things in the early part of the schedule, dropping the season opener to Va. Tech on a last second goal, and another home match to the UC Bearcats in overtime. Scoring goals was a problem and Head Coach Dave Schureck moved junior defender Mike Nsien from the back line to the forward position to add a much-needed physical presence to the shifty Sunday Isename and newcomer Chris Rolfe. The move worked and Nsien now leads the team in goals scored, but continuity from all parts of the field has yet to cauterize. While inconsistency has been the trouble spot, no one area stands out. Sometimes the defense gives up just a goal, but the offense can’t score, while at other times the Flyers put in the nets but can’t contain the opposition.

With four preseason first team All Conference nominees, Dayton looked as good as anyone on paper, including perennial A-10 power Rhode Island and newcomer Richmond. The midfield was basically the same unit that destroyed opponents in 2000 with the precision of Swiss watch, but fans have yet to see the dominance they saw a year ago.

In many ways, the Flyers haven’t looked bad and haven’t looked unstoppable. They’ve been good enough to beat a good team on a good day such as Akron, but losses to the Hokies and nailbiting wins against Xavier and Fordham – the bottom two teams in the league – suggest something is missing. What exactly that is remains unclear.

What we do know is Dayton has the talent to beat just about anyone if everyone is on the same page. Even in the quagmire-like conditions against league favorite Richmond at Baujan Field recently, the Flyers dominated for several periods. But another late goal spelled doom. Senior midfielder Erik Nelson has become a leader with his physical play and others may look to emulate his standard as the season fjords on.

There have been nagging injuries. Goalkeeper Matt Hutchins continues to battle a knee ailment and at times is simply gutting it out. Mike Nsien has missed games and star defender Denny Clanton was banged up recently. But all teams carry injuries into the latter half of the season so writing it off as bad luck isn’t going to fly with the UD coaches.

As it stands now, Dayton sits 3-2 in the league and are in a logjam behind frontrunners Rhode Island, Richmond, and UMass. The loss to LaSalle last weekend means LaSalle is now 3-2 as well and owns the tiebreaker. No doubt, the Flyers are still well within striking distance to make the four-team A-10 Tournament, but can’t afford to ease up on the gas either. Dayton hosts URI and UMass in the last weekend of the regular season so there’s no time to count their blessings.

We’ve seen good things from the newcomers. Fairmont HS product Chris Rolfe has started in the front line all season and is a consistent threat to score if he’s facing the net, while Tye Stebbins has provided valuable minutes as either a starter or 6th man off the bench. Senior Joe Appel has been another spark off the bench and junior forward Sunday Isename has yet to catch fire. The good news is UD hasn’t played their best ball, so improving is definitely something fans should look for. Coach Schureck’s team isn’t too far off, but like most teams outside the nation’s Top-10, aren’t good enough to simply show up and go through the motions and expect to win. The coaching staff has tinkered with the lineup all year trying to find the right combination that gets the choo-choo chugging. If things change from “I think I can” to “I know I can”, Dayton should step it up.

Women’s Soccer

On the womens side, Head Coach Mike Tucker’s 2001 campaign has read a bit like a John Jakes novel. A lot of twists and turns later, the Flyers sit at 7-5 and a perfect 5-0 in conference play. It’s how they got there that makes the story one of the better ones of the fall sports season.

As most fans know, just days before fall practice began, All American Missy Showtime Gregg left the program for Christian Brothers Univ. in Memphis, TN. After the shock wore off, many fans notarized the Flyer death certificate for the 2001 season. But we didn’t buy into it and picked Dayton to finish no worse than second in the league with a real chance of winning the whole thing. As it stands now, Dayton may be the team to beat.

With a brutal early schedule against the likes of Michigan, MSU, Stanford, Santa Clara, and Oregon State, even the coaching staff knew the payoff would be long-term. The Flyers dropped the season opener to relative unknown Oregon State 4-1, but as we look back at things now, the Beavers are 7-4-1 and much improved over last year – to the point of receiving votes in the brutally competitive West Region rankings. UD got past UC-Irvine 4-0, then dropped tough one-goal decisions to MSU and Michigan by scores of 2-1 and 1-0 despite playing well enough to win. But fans noticed that the team had potential in a 3-0 whitewash of Xavier in the home opener. A tough 3-1 loss to #3 Santa Clara balanced out a 6-0 drubbing from #7 Stanford in the Nike Stanford Invitational, but as soon as the team returned home, they put on another whipping by knocking off Ohio U. 3-1. It was clear: the rigorous non-conference schedule was paying dividends and as UD returned to matches against teams in their class, the Flyers were flying high.

And that’s why Dayton has won five in a row, stands undefeated in the A-10, and hasn’t been seriously challenged by anyone other than league contender Richmond since returning from California. By getting past the Spiders 2-1 on Richmond’s home turf, a new sense of confidence emerged and the team hasn’t been the same since. The Flyers are also sporting a 13-game A-10 winning streak and 14-game home winning streak – both program records.

What most people didn’t realize however should have been obvious. While Dayton lost perhaps the best pure striker in the country in Missy Gregg, nobody else in the country – nevermind the A-10 Conference – has a Missy Gregg either. What’s resulted is a more balanced team with better leadership and chemistry. Compared to this point last season, the 2001 Flyers are probably two goals better than the 2000 Flyer team, and that’s because weak links are few and far between. The emergence of Shannon Kuhl as a goal scorer after sitting out 2000 with back problems has been a big help, but others like sophomore Judi Aschenbrener and defender-turned-forward Beth McHugh are giving the Flyers more offensive punch. So too has Kara Kenney. And the defense remains as good or better than last year with the duo of Erin Showalter and Nina DiGuardi clogging up the middle. And the freshmen have made major contributions. Tesia Kozlowski has greatly improved the midfield play – a glaring weakness a season ago – while Jen Simonetti looks like a four-year starter in the back line. Even walk-ons like Jessica Melvin are giving the team a big lift. It’s a team without heroes, and perhaps even a star, but it’s a team – and that’s the biggest accomplishment in 2001. No greater an example of it than senior Sarah Walker who was asked to give up her job as a goal scorer and play defense, and she’s played exceptionally well.

The Flyers are playing well enough to beat everybody left on the schedule, and at this point, any loss before the final weekend of the season (matches at UMass and URI) will be considered major upsets. The bad news is Dayton hasn’t beaten anyone with a winning record so far in 2001, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. All of Dayton’s losses have come to strong teams while most Dayton’s opponents have played equally challenging schedules. The womens NCAA brackets have expanded to 64 teams this fall, but the likelihood is that UD must either win the A-10 Tourny or win all of their remaining games and lose in the finals to make it to the Big Dance. With the shortened season due to Sept. 11, perhaps the selection committee will take into consideration those teams who canceled winnable games on their schedule. UD canceled a match with WSU that most feel the Flyers would have won had there been no terrorist attack. One thing is certain: the selection committee can’t argue with Dayton’s schedule, and by showing the know-it-alls who the best team in the conference is by far, their chances are probably better than at any time in the program’s history.