Oct. 19, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Dayton Flyers believe if they take care of business on the road that other business--like a return to the Atlantic 10 postseason after missing it last year--will take care of itself.

A 2-7-2 record away from home in 2006 helped lead to a 10th-place finish in the A-10. So far Dayton has set their sights on turning that around.

Friday night the Flyers took advantage of playing away from Baujan Field as UD rallied from a goal down in the second half to win 2-1 against the La Salle Explorers.

It took timely efforts from sophomores Jeff Popella and Alex Torda late in the second half and a strong performance in net from senior goalkeeper Zac Gibbens to get the victory.

"Well it's huge because we're still young and we're still learning to win on the road," head coach Dennis Currier said. "A game like this last year with all the freshmen we had we could have easily lost this game. We're still learning, but this is a step in the right direction."

Torda tied the game at the 75:26 mark of the second half, while Popella added his second game-winner of the season netting a shot less than five minutes later.

Gibbens recorded a season high nine saves as UD improved to 7-3-2 overall, 1-2-0 in the Atlantic 10 and 3-3-2 on the road. The seven overall wins and three road victories both eclipsed last year's totals.

"The guys competed really hard tonight because it's a tough venue to play in," Currier said. "We let up a goal on their first dangerous scoring chance and had to adjust our lineup. Once we did that we started to put a lot of pressure on and got the two goals we needed. It's a good comeback victory for us."

The first half played an evenly matched contest with each team scoreless. La Salle held an 8-7 advantage in shots with Gibbens making six saves. The Flyers had opportunities to break the game open with Tyler Imbrogno, Gary Long, Florian DeCamps and Popella each getting quality scoring opportunities.

However, in the second half after UD couldn't capitalize early, La Salle got on the board first at the 62:18 mark of the first half with a shot past the outstretched arms of Gibbens to go up 1-0.

Dayton's go-to sniper countered once again as Torda connected on a shot from the left side on an unassisted goal evening the score at 1-1. Popella capitalized on the momentum with his second goal of the season with another Flyer shot off the left side.

"You had to play real direct on this field," Currier said. "We put together a couple of passes and Torda in a workman-like way got behind the defense and slotted it by the far post. It was a great individual effort on his part. After we got the first goal we really energized and the guys were buzzing a lot more. We put together a combination play to Popella who used his strength and got it behind the defense to put it past the goalkeeper."

La Salle had chances late in the second half to tie the contest, but Gibbens made a key save with 1:36 remaining in regulation to pick up his seventh victory of the season in net.

Dayton out shot La Salle 14-13 and held an 8-3 advantage in corners.

The efforts of the Flyer forwards haven't gone unnoticed of late. Torda has been on fire of late scored a goal or an assist in five of his last seven games. Both of Popella's goals this season have been game-winners.

Dayton looks to continue the momentum wrapping up a stretch of seven of its last eight games on the road with a showdown against the Fordham Rams on Sunday. The match begins at 1 p.m. ET.