Flyers Down Hoosiers 4-1 in Season Opener

DAYTON (OH) -- Two goals in each half -- including one on each side of intermission from 2007 A10 Offensive Player of the Year Mandi Back -- did the damage Friday night in a 4-1 victory over Indiana University at Baujan Field. With the season-opening win, Dayton gets off to a great start at 1-0 (0-0) while the Hoosiers drop to 0-1 along with their preseason NSCAA #26 national ranking.

Things started off well for Dayton as 1,213 fans settled in on a gorgeous late summer night. Mandi Back made a nice off-the-ball run and fellow junior Colleen Gibson fed a perfect pass through the IU defense to hit Back in stride. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Back squirted a shot past Lauren Hollandsworth and into the net for the 1-0 Flyer lead in the 6th minute of play.

Unfortunately the momentum and early lead was short-lived. Two minutes later Indiana pressured the Flyer defensive third and sent a high cross into the box that senior goalkeeper Deana Waintraub challenged 12yds from the goal mouth. Committed but unable to deliver a proper punch for clearance, Devon Beach collected the ball amidst the chaos and struck a low shot to the corner of an unprotected goal mouth for the equalizer.

Over the next 10 minutes each side probed the other for strengths and weaknesses but as the first half wore on, the Flyers slowly took command and began exercising more pressure in their attacking half of the field.

The eventual game-winner would end up a byproduct of that persistence in the 25th minute when junior Caitlin Proffitt squeezed through the back line and challenged a loose ball from 18yds out. Hollandsworth pursued from her goalkeeping position but Proffitt beat her to it and touched the ball around her for the open-goal putaway and a 2-1 lead.

The rest of the half was largely under UD's control. Back substituted out after 15 minutes and that allowed Proffitt, Jerica DeWolfe, and Kelly Blumenschein to get some valuable minutes in the offense. Defensively, Head Coach Mike Tucker started the match with a frosh back line of Kathleen Beljan and Kelsey Miller. Both were baptized at times with the speed and physicality of the game but found their legs and did a relatively nice job when it really counted. UD had trouble generating offensive possession out of the back line however and much of that hinges on inexperience. As they develop and get more minutes, both talented prospects will learn to find more purpose with their passes and clears.

Halftime allowed Indiana Head Coach Mick Lyon to spend all 15 minutes talking to his team, while the Flyers talked less and stayed loose. The extended pep talk did little to change things in the second half however as UD took control once again and added a much-needed insurance goal in the 58th minute. Back capitalized on a jailbreak and notched her second tally of the night with a poke past the charging Hollandsworth from 18yds out to make the score 3-1.

Three minutes later sophomore Allison Giner ripped a shot from 25yds out after a nifty setup from Gibson that tucked inside the near post to polish off the scoring.

The last 30 minutes were more or less mailed in by both sides and lacked any sort of urgency. The damage had been done however and the outcome a mere formality. The Flyers finished with a 21-8 advantage in shots on goal and did so with two other frosh in the starting lineup: Emily Kenyon and Kelsey Owen in the midfield. Only three seniors played (Stephanie Wurth, Amanda Gallow, Waintraub) and the minutes were spread around.

It's hard not to be impressed with a 4-1 win over Indiana in the home opener. If the Flyers can notch 3-4 goals a night, this team is going places. Question marks still remain at goalkeeper and in the young back line, but there is experience to call upon if needed, including rotating Gallow to defense when needed. The Hoosiers were ranked #26 in the preseason NSCAA Top-25 poll and returned eight starters from a team that finished 13-7-3 (5-4-1) in 2007. Indiana was picked to finish a lofty fourth in the rough-and-tumble Big10, but from their performance Friday night, we think that's highly unlikely. We didn't see the same kind of physicality, speed, and foot skills that are apparent on other top-half Big10 programs like Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, and Illinois. That said, Dayton deserves considerable credit for being ready on opening night and taking down a program that should provide solid RPI points over the course of the season. The Flyers were the better side from start to finish and got the 2008 season off to a great start.

UD has all week to rest up and prepare for a tournament at the University of Illinois. After taking on Pittsburgh, Dayton will battle either Iowa State or host Illinois in the Sunday bracket. After next week, fans should have an even better handle on the potential of this year's team.