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UD Draws With Fordham 1-1 2OT
UD Draws With Fordham 1-1 2OT
Christopher M Rieman
Published by Chris R
10-13-2013
Lightbulb UD Draws With Fordham 1-1 2OT

DAYTON (OH) -- Dayton Men's Soccer suffered their second double-overtime tie of the weekend, drawing 1-1 against Fordham Sunday afternoon at Baujan Field. Amass Amankona connected with a header in the box to put UD ahead, but an own-goal by the Flyers evened the match a short time later. Dayton now stands at 10-0-2 (0-0-2), while Fordham leaves town at 3-7-1 (0-1-1).

Searching for answers that weren't found in Friday evening's disappointing tie to George Washington, Dayton had a chance to turn things around and put their best foot forward. Much like the prior match however, the posture of the Flyers shortly after kickoff suggested Sunday afternoon would also be a struggle.

The opening minutes were largely back and forth as both teams took turns attempting to steer the match in a direction and pace to their liking. With Baujan Field slowly showing signs of a season of abuse, the rough surface made it difficult at times for players to one-touch cleanly. With more deliberate passing, most of the movement forward focused on the touch lines as players attempted to post up as targets. When that didn't work, long balls were played -- but the back lines for both teams had little trouble mopping up the garbage.

The Flyers were unable to generate any through-balls or overlaps that sprung teammates loose and beyond the Fordham defense. The run of play was in front of last defender, forcing UD to play wide and then send crossing balls into the box.

As the first half continued, Dayton generated a handful of scoring chances, but most of them were not high-quality and the others were poorly finished. This theme continued throughout the rest of the match as the Flyers developed offense but not of any consistent quality.

Despite the sloppy play on both sides and lack of dangerous shots on goal, UD capitalized in the 27th minute on a redirected cross in the box from the touch line. The service found the head of Amass Amankona for the put-away from 5yds out, set up after Abe Keller took a corner kick and collected the rebound -- giving him time to send the ball back over the face of the goal.

Up 1-0, the Flyers were where they wanted to be, albeit without the level of play they desired.

Fordham had a chance to tie the match but GK Chris Froschauer stuffed a Ram breakaway directly in front of his near post to seal off the angle and turn away the dangerous opportunity.

Halftime stats favored UD in shots 13-5, while corner kicks were four a piece. Despite the shot advantage however, it was a Dayton offense that was out of sorts and looking for better form.

The second half was a perfect opportunity to find it, but that never really happened over the next 45 minutes of play. Fordham did well in the midfield to win their share of loose balls and tackles, forcing Dayton to play more defense than otherwise necessary. Once again, the midfield became a trouble spot for UD as 50/50 balls and headers were hit-or-miss; at times Dayton won them but too often they were out-hustled on important challenges in the middle third of the field.

Nevertheless, UD had their chances to extend the lead. The offense lost shape in the final third however, resulting in errant passes that failed to spring a teammate free. The Fordham goal box was a congested area that left little room for clean looks at the net. UD's best chances came on set pieces and ambitious attempts from long-range.

Fordham caught a break in the 59th minute when they sent a cross to the near post that was deflected in by a Flyer defender to tie the match at 1-1. The Flyers stuck a boot out in an attempt to block the cross entirely, but it resulted in an inadvertent a toe-poke to the back of the net.

With 30 minutes to play, there was plenty of time to regroup and re-take the lead. UD continued to accumulate shots to fill the stat sheet, but too few were on frame or high quality. The Rams smelled an upset and worked exceedingly hard to spoil UD's undefeated record. A flurry of activity in the last 25 minutes of regulation almost paid off both teams. Fordham slipped a ball past the last Flyer defender and found a Ram striker heading unchallenged toward the UD box. Froschauer came off his line and saved the day with a sliding kick-save. Dayton had a couple decent chances before the end of regulation courtesy of loose balls in the mixer. Neither side could punch it in however and the game went into extra time.

The first OT had very little offense. The Flyers looked a bit fatigued in the middle third of the pitch and failed to assertively challenge a couple important loose balls that might have created an offensive jailbreak.

UD out-shot Fordham 5-1 in the second OT but ultimately couldn't score the golden goal.

Overall, UD out-shot Fordham by a whopping 36-15 margin, but only 13 Flyer shots were on frame. Of those, only about half were legitimately dangerous. Corner kicks were 10-5 in favor of the Flyers.

Defensively, UD was once again sharp. Christopher Lenning and Jonathan Nelson did thankless but important work all afternoon and made difficult sequences look routine. Froschauer was once again impenetrable on anything in his direction.

The midfield and forward positions were not in good form however and the struggles from Friday were largely repeated against the Rams. Everything begins and ends with an ability to grind out 50/50 balls between the goal boxes and UD -- despite a significant size advantage -- failed to exploit their physicality. Far too many balls are getting dug out by the opposition, and too many first touches are loose and problematic when attempting to jump-start the offense.

With a pair of ties to sub .500 opponents at home to start the A10 schedule, UD has some work to do to put themselves back in the NCAA at-large picture. Both results were disappointing and it's unlikely the news will escape the pollsters next week. More important than that however, the next match at St. Louis becomes even more important. In fact, it's probably a must-win.
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