The Dayton Flyers broke a program mark for consecutive wins at home by claiming their 12th in a row at Baujan Field after a 3-1 victory over the Ohio Bobcats at Baujan Field Sunday afternoon. In what was the final non-conference match of the year, Dayton struck first in the first five minutes of the contest and used that as a momentum builder to control most of the game for their third win of the season. Dayton improves to 3-5 (1-0) while Ohio U. falls to 3-4 (2-0). Dayton also set a new school record Sunday, extending their home winning streak to 12 games.

Shannon Kuhl opened things up with a header off a Bridget Bushman cross for the 1-0 advantage just five minutes into the match. The goal pretty much set the tone for the entire game because Dayton, who didn’t put forth their best soccer, still had more than enough to control the tempo and cruise to the relatively easy win.

The Flyers were clearly the better side Sunday afternoon and dominated much of the first half with ball possession that looked like a game of keep-away for stretches. While Dayton had plenty of opportunities to punish OU however, hesitancy to counter-attack quickly and make the Bobcats play for being out of position kept things from being a blowout. In short, Dayton didn’t have to play its best to win, and suffered from stretches of brilliance or mediocrity throughout.

Still, Dayton was never in serious trouble and despite several scoring opportunities in the first half that came and went, UD took a solid 1-0 lead into halftime.

Dayton started the second half much like the first as Bridget Bushman added another Flyer goal in the 52nd minute to take a commanding 2-0 lead that proved to be the game winner. Ohio U. tried quick counters of their own hoping to catch the Flyers off guard, and it paid off in the 68th minute despite an apparent handball in the box that reminded some of Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” in the 1986 World Cup. The official didn’t see it and OU put a ball past Steph Weisenfeld who came out of her goal to cut off the angle. Dayton Head Coach Mike Tucker was aggravated at the no-call and instructed his players to stay away from the ball until the official gave him an explanation — or at least withstood a few choice words from the UD camp. Tucker picked up a yellow card after some verbal persuasions and it’s quite possible he used it deliberately as a ploy to juice the home team after OU cut the lead to 2-1.

Perhaps the strong words made a difference because not too long thereafter the Flyers deflected a cross in the box for their third goal and a 3-1 lead in the 71st minute that proved to be the final score of the game. Ohio U. mounted a few more attacks with high balls in the Flyer box, but Weisenfeld picked them out of the air in traffic to turn out the lights on the Bobcat offense.

Sunday’s game was a tough match to handicap. Dayton looked much better than Ohio U. and played like it for most of the game, yet something was lacking as well. The Bobcats seemed to leave wide open spaces on the field that Dayton didn’t pursue aggressively enough. One-touches were few and first touches were bobbled. Still, the Flyers were never seriously threatened. What could be happening is what fans had hoped: Dayton’s tough non-conference schedule has put the Flyers into a position to win rather easily without putting forth a sharp-as-nails effort. UD outshot OU 14-5 on the afternoon.

Shannon Kuhl continues to pay dividends for the Flyers. After sitting out last year due to injury, the redshirt sophomore scored twice on Sunday and now appears to be the go-to player for scoring chances. She was active all day and earns her first UDPride Player of the Game for 2001. Head Coach Mike Tucker juggled the lineup throughout the match, electing to bring forward Beth McHugh off the bench and utilizing walk-on Clare Quinter for heavy minutes as well. Sweeper Erin Showalter kept things organized once again in the defense and is doing everything that’s being asked of her. Overall, Dayton continues to look very good against the teams it can and should beat. It remains to be seen if the Flyers can win a big game this year, and they’ll have a great opportunity to do so next week as they travel to Richmond to face the Spiders — consider co-favorites in the A-10 race.