UDPride Discussion Forums    
     

Go Back   UDPride Discussion Forums > LATEST ARTICLES > UDPride Articles

UDPride Articles Published content from your UDPride staff

» Log in
User Name:

Password:

Not a member yet?
Register Now!
» Advertisement
Comment
 
Article Tools Display Modes
UD Tops Cleveland St 4-1 in Home Opener
UD Tops Cleveland St 4-1 in Home Opener
Christopher Rieman
Published by Chris R
09-02-2015
Smile UD Tops Cleveland St 4-1 in Home Opener

A pair of goals in each half and a solid defensive effort pushed the Dayton Flyers past the Cleveland State Vikings by a 4-1 score on Wednesday night in the home opener at Baujan Field. A solid weeknight crowd of 956 fans saw UD improve to 2-1-0 while the CSU remains winless at 0-2-0.

On paper, this was a mismatch as the Vikings struggled last year to a six-win season and #157 RPI, having already lost to Robert Morris 4-1 in their season opener. From the opening kickoff, UD firmly controlled the flow of the match and generated an abundance of possession over the first 10 minutes.

The Flyers did well to play the ball on the manicured Baujan Field turf rather than shortcut the build-up with overly-ambitious long balls over the top. Cleveland State had trouble marking up and it wasn't long until Dayton found gaps down the left and right flanks that eventually led to dangerous crosses in the box.

The early pressure paid off in the 15th minute when a deflection directly in front of the box fell in front of Amass Amankona's feet for the easy slot to the corner from point-blank range. The ball bounced behind the CSU back line but appeared to take a deflection off a Viking defender, leaving Amankona onside.

Michael Fraska made is 2-0 just three minutes later when UD stole the ball in the offensive third and created a quick counter-attack that left CSU flat-footed and retreating. Fraska took a touch and rifled it home from 15yds to the left corner of the net to give Dayton a legitimate kung-fu grip on the first half.

The remaining half hour produced no more scoring but the Flyers continued to play the role of conductor rather than part of the orchestra. The Vikings had repeated difficulty holding defensive posture along the right baseline, conceding crosses in the box that were strong goal-scoring chances for Dayton. The offense was most effective when serving balls through Amankona so he could distribute to others and help initiate the weak-side attack.

Defensively, Lalas Abubakar controlled things in the back line and limited Cleveland State's scoring opportunities to a handful of half-chances from outside the box. He also distributed to the mids effectively and kept the game in front of him.

Halftime stats favored UD 11-6 in shots while corner kicks were 2-2.

The second half restart would prove important in the match as the next goal would dictate where the momentum would swing. If UD could extend to the lead to 3-0, CSU would probably roll over. If CSU trimmed the deficit to 2-1, things could get interesting.

Fortunately, Flyer fans got what they wanted in the last 45 minutes as UD continued to dominate possession and knock the ball around seemingly at will. The only times the Flyers conceded the ball was when they grew impatient and tried for a home run over the top.

The lead grew to 3-0 in the 55th minute when Amankona made a nifty juke near the left baseline and crossed a ball far post, finding the head of James Haup. Haupt knocked it just under the crossbar to effectively stick a fork in things, and it was another example of Dayton exploiting CSU's suspect defense along the chalk.

The Vikings almost handed UD a fourth goal several minutes later on a botched clear that spun backwards and nearly went in, plinking the post with the goalkeeper squarely beat.

Carlos Sendin called his own number in the 77th minute with a low blast to the far left corner from 23 yards out, in part from poor Cleveland State defense that allowed him to take a couple touches and line the shot up.

Dayton would eventually concede their only goal of the match in similar fashion as CSU's Antonio Burgoa took advantage of an unimpeded dribble-drive from left to right, blasting a central shot from 25yds out that beat the out-stretched hands of Justin Saliba in the upper left corner in the 83rd minute.

By then however, the writing was on the wall and Dayton salted the match away with little drama. Match states favored UD in shots 17-9, including a 6-3 edge in the second half. Both teams registered five corner kicks.

The Vikings were not a strong opponent and the Flyers did what they needed to do against such opposition -- not make it close. Cleveland State displayed few dynamic playmakers and were not all that intelligent soccer minds playing off the ball either. Defensively, they were disorganized along the baseline and Dayton did well to capitalize on most of their weaknesses throughout the match. CSU may be hard-pressed to match their six wins from a year ago.

It's difficult to draw a lot of conclusions from Wednesday's victory because of the competition level -- other than Dayton doing exactly what they should which is win comfortably. The result was mission accomplished in this sense and that's not a bad first step in the home opener of the season. While the Flyers need to eventually beat some teams as good or better than themselves, they also need to mop up on the inferior opponents and not create unnecessary drama. For these reasons, it was a good day at the office for Head Coach Dennis Currier's squad.

Dayton hits the road for a Monday night match at Marquette. Fans will learn more about the potential ceiling of this year's team after that result and others like it that are forthcoming.
__________________

Hot shooting hides a multitude of sins.
Make everyone else's "one day" your "day one".
Article Tools
Comment

Article Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.1

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:35 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement System V2.6 By   Branden

Article powered by GARS 2.1.8m ©2005-2006

     
 
Copyright 1996-2012 UDPride.com. All Rights Reserved.