Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - There are offensive slumps and then there is the pressing the coaching staff has seen recently from the Dayton Flyers.

The Flyers didn't do much with their scoring chances again Friday night but at least they managed to survive.

Senior Zac Gibbens made fives saves, including one on a penalty kick in the second half, as the Dayton Flyers tied the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 0-0.

After the game, Gibbens and the Flyers were still searching for answers as to why the offense has produced one goal in its last three regular season games.

"We're very solid defensively and we're getting our chances up top, it's just a matter of having the ability to finish and that comes from having a little bit of composure," Gibbens said. "It's not our forwards are bad. We have a very good front line and very good midfielders and they do well going forward, we've just been a little unlucky. A couple of close misses tonight."

For the first time in the program's 51-year history, the Flyers earned back-to-back scoreless ties. The Flyer defense has not allowed a goal in its last 389:25 minutes of play as Gibbens earned his sixth shutout of the season.

However, the Flyer offense hasn't seen the back of the net in their last 256:21 minutes of play. UD's last goal came against the Temple Owls when Jeff Popella scored in the second half of a 1-0 victory.

"It's disappointing," head coach Dennis Currier said. "Offensively we haven't scored a goal in a while and we had a lot of easy chances tonight. In order to win games, you have to score goals."

Although Dayton earns one point with the tie, it puts the Flyers in a tough position to advance to the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship next weekend. With the tie Dayton moves to 9-4-4 overall and 3-3-2 in the Atlantic 10. St. Bonaventure goes to 6-6-3 overall and 3-3-2 in conference play as well.

St. Bonaventure controlled most of the play in the first half and continued on in the second. After a foul was called inside the Dayton goal box and a penalty kick was assessed, Gibbens made a diving save to his right to change the game's momentum.

"It came at a crucial moment of the game for us," Gibbens said. "Up until that point it had been back-and-forth for us and they had a little momentum. I made the save and I think that gave us a momentum boost and turned the game around a little bit. We just couldn't quite get one back in the back of the net."

UD's best chance to break the stalemate came midway through the second half when Popella saved a ball from going out-of-bounds and found Florian DeCamps inside the six-yard box. DeCamps fired the shot high in a half where Dayton had a 6-2 advantage in shots.

The UD defense allowed only two shots after that and only one in the overtime. After going through a rough stretch at the start of the conference season, Dayton has allowed just three goals in the last six matches.

"Defensively we've been really solid all year and the defense came up strong for us," Currier said. "They kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win and our offense has to step up and put one away. It hasn't happened in two games and we find ourselves now in a position to have a lot of other things happen. We've got to take care of ourselves and win on Sunday."

The Flyers' final regular season game will take place on Sunday as UD hosts the Duquesne Dukes at Baujan Field beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday will also be Senior Day as Dayton will honor the careers of its three seniors in Gibbens, Gary Long and Tyler Imbrogno.