It’s still a month away, but already the players and coaches of the UD women’s soccer team are thinking about it. That certain something is the start of fall practice and unlike prior seasons where the Flyers transitioned into it full of untethered bravado, this year the dynamic is different. After seven years of A-10 supremacy, UD stumbled for much of 2005 and were dispatched in the A10 semifinals at Baujan Field to conference newcomer St. Louis. For the first time in a long time, the season will start and the Flyers will be the hunter and not the hunted.

I got a good sense of the program’s headspace while sharing conversation with UD skipper Mike Tucker over a mid-week lunch. We’ve had the same conversations before and in large part due to his program’s run of 1st place finishes, the answers were usually consistent. There’s more ambiguity this time around however and the coaches readily admit it. Gone are several seniors and much of the goal-scoring from last year. Yet in the same breath, last year was a season of goal-scoring droughts and set-piece calamities. Dayton went a stretch of 10 games without finding the nets on a set piece – usually a program strong point. The more players seemed to think about scoring, the more it seemed to affect their own competitive headspace. The season wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it never had the spark either. UD soccer’s calling card has always been spark. To routinely give programs like Florida, Michigan, Clemson, Santa Clara, Virginia, and Texas all sorts of trouble, there’s something blue-collar you can’t deny.

There’s no denying the fact that several promising freshmen must step up and help re-establish the Flyers as the team to beat. Before all of that however, the returnees must accept the task and provide the shining example. Leadership rolls from the top down and the upperclassmen have a sizable responsibility on their shoulders. Not only do they have to step up their own game, they must find a way to bury last year’s frustration with more confidence and playmaking. The A10 conference gave UD quality representation on the preseason All-Conference and Rookie teams so the cupboard is not bare. In order to be team to beat once again, improvement in all areas is needed.

One of the best qualities of Coach Tucker is his sincerity and willingness to answer questions straight-on. You can tell he cares about the program and the players in it. But at the same time, he’s not afraid to tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear. The players were challenged at the start of spring practice and that’s when the soul-searching began. If UD had intentions of climbing back on top, it had to start early on. After all, Dayton soccer was built upon out-working other programs. After so much success, that tends to get lost in the conversation. For every Showtime Gregg, there are 10 other Leah Phelps and Stacy Palumbos that went from obscure freshman to one of the A10’s best. It’s precisely that kind of dedication UD is looking to re-discover in 2006. And part of that includes self-evaluation by all.

From the sound of it, Tucker and his staff feel Dayton has a fighting chance to be very good this year, provided the ‘fighting’ is part of the mixture throughout the season. With Jaime Monahan has the lone senior, the team is young. Some positions lack experience or a mastery of responsibility including up top where most of the goals come from. Defensively, there are enough pieces to assemble another typical Flyer back line good enough to give the mids and forwards a chance to win nearly every game.

For Dayton to regain the mojo, two or three players must step up and assign themselves the responsibility of acting as on-field coaches. No matter how great the sideline coaching is, much of it falls on deaf ears unless there’s a respected conduit willing to enforce it directly on the pitch. It remains to be seen who might accept that responsibility.

Looking back at everything said over that casual lunch, I couldn’t help but think of the incredible program success over the last 10 years and the coach that changed the culture of Flyer soccer at UD. I remember watching UD beat Evansville in a Baujan Field thriller in 1999 to earn the program’s first-ever NCAA win – and the university’s first D-I NCAA win outside men’s basketball. At the time it was a breakthrough headline. Today it’s considered merely acceptable. That’s both the beauty and tragedy all rolled into one. Fans have already forgotten the nation’s longest winning streak of 20 matches in 2004 and that’s okay. Just as long as fans don’t forget that even Michael Jordan missed more game-winning baskets than he made. There is a context worth digesting. There’s a team looking to rebound. At some point this season, those two forces of nature will inevitably cross paths again. And we’ll know if the Flyers are ‘fighting’ mad or not.