DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton men’s soccer team (1-0) opened the year with a 3-2 win over Ohio State (0-1) Friday night at Baujan Field.  

“It’s a great start,” University of Dayton Men’s Soccer Head Coach Dennis Currier said. “We had a lot of energy coming into tonight, and in the last twenty minutes we really had to defend hard.  It is a great start to a long season. Now we have to get ready for Sunday.”

Senior forward Evan McCreary gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at halftime with a pair of first-half goals, but OSU got on board when Sebastian Rivas scored 46 seconds into the second half.  Dayton junior Abe Keller answered two minutes later to put the Flyers up 3-1.  Alec Lowell made it a one-goal game in the 62nd minute.
 
“Our first twenty minutes were fantastic. We held the ball, maintained possession, really attacked well and had a few chances,” Currier said. “It was a great start and we needed that against a team like Ohio State. We were able to play off of the energy of  a fantastic crowd.”

UD freshman goalkeeper Chris Froschauer withstood a barrage of OSU shots in the final 25 minutes, with two key saves in the final 75 seconds of the match, to give Dayton the 3-2 win.

McCreary’s goal came in the 10th minute of the match. Redshirt freshman Ryan Peterson fed the ball through to sophomore Greg Enstone. With a quick touch, Enstone played it to McCreary who finished the ball near post for UD to take a 1-0 lead.

McCreary buried his second goal of the night in the 28th minute, heading the ball in on Eddie Jones’ corner kick.

Ohio State came out the second half and struck early. Riveras buried a shot in the right upper 90, cutting UD’s lead to 2-1.

Keller pulled Dayton ahead by two in the 48th minute on a rocket from near midfield. Keller’s boot was threaded just out of goalkeeper Alex Wimmer’s reach.

Lowell tried to help OSU make a run late in the match scoring in the 62nd minute to pull within one.

“We started letting them get through the layers there towards the end. I thought we did really well to not let them break through. We were more concerned about their midfielders attacking and getting behind the back four and they hit us with two long range shots that made things interesting on us in the second half,” Currier said.

Ohio State continued to charge, but Dayton did a great job weathering the flurry of Ohio State chances at the end. UD registered several blocks and saves in the closing minutes to hang on for the season-opening win.  

“It’s a great start to the season, but tomorrow we are back to business,” Currier said. “We really have to focus in on Kentucky because we have another tough opponent coming in. These first four games are really going to set the tone for us. They are some of the best teams in the country.”

The Flyers will host Kentucky Sunday at 5 p.m. at Baujan Field. Admission is free to all University of Dayton men’s soccer regular season home events.