Nov. 3, 2007

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DAYTON, Ohio - The Dayton Flyers felt they did everything right on the field in their rivalry game against the Xavier Musketeers except one key aspect: scoring a goal.

In a hard-fought, physical battle by both teams the Flyers tied the Musketeers 0-0 in a game that had big implications on UD advancing into postseason play.

"It was definitely a battle from the opening whistle to the end of the second overtime period," senior Zac Gibbens said. "It was hard fought by both teams. I felt we did what we needed to do. We just couldn't find the one that would seal the victory for us."

Gibbens made two saves and recorded his second consecutive shutout to pace the Flyer defense. Dayton held a 13-8 advantage in shots and a 7-1 edge in corner kicks, but could not break through for the eventual game-winner.

Dayton moves to 9-4-3 overall, 3-3-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 6-0-1 at Baujan Field. More importantly the Flyers have put themselves in a position where they must win the final two regular season games and get help in order to advance to the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship, which will be held at Bajuan Field from Nov. 15-18.

"The guys fought hard, we just couldn't get a whole lot of great chances on goal," head coach Dennis Currier said. "We have a lot of work ahead of us this weekend. We have to get two wins and we did get a point out of this game. We were looking for three points, but I thought the guys fought hard. I thought it was a very intense game like any rivalry game would be and we just fell a little bit short on scoring a goal."

For the Musketeers sophomore Adam Sokolowski made seven stops as Xavier moved to 6-10-1 overall and 2-4-2 in the A-10.

In the first half, the Flyers had a goal disallowed after 10 minutes of play because of an offside call. It would be the first of six offside calls against UD.

Gibbens then made a key save at the 25 minute mark to keep the game scoreless. UD controlled play throughout holding a 6-2 advantage in shots.

"I thought we really had control of the game in the first 20 minutes and that would have been a great chance to get a goal," Currier said. "Then in the overtime I thought we could get one late, but that's the way the game is."

But for a majority of the second half Xavier controlled the tempo of the game. Gibbens made another key save from the left side at the 66:05 mark keeping the game at 0-0. The Flyers didn't have another quality scoring chance in the second half, but showed the defensive swagger they possessed earlier in the season.

"As a team and our defense we've gotten our identity back," Gibbens said. "Our back four has been responsible for taking care of business, but when the other six guys in front of us are working as a unit, it makes the defense a lot easier to maintain. We're doing a good job of playing as one cohesive unit from the forwards to the defense. That's what allowed us to put up a couple of doughnuts the past couple of games."

UD's best chance to get on the board in the frame came when Isaac Kissi fired a shot that went above the crossbar. After regulation Dayton held a 9-7 advantage in shots and a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.

In the first overtime, Ryan Handbury put a long shot on net that was saved. The Flyers continued to pressure in the Musketeer zone and had its best scoring chance of the first overtime when Alex Torda fired a shot from 10 yards out that was saved on the left side. Dayton tallied the only two shots of the extra session.

The second overtime featured Jeff Popella being stopped on a great save by Sokolowski with a shot to the lower right side.

"I thought (Popella) got dangerous in the second overtime," Currier said. "We thought we had the low shot there. Torda had a chance in the first overtime and that last scramble in the box I thought we had that goal there. It just didn't go our way."

The Flyers return to action on Friday with a home game against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies beginning at 7 p.m. ET.