April 1, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio - It's hard to believe that the University of Dayton women's soccer team will be closing out the spring portion of its season in just a few short weeks as it seems the warmer weather has only just begun. However, the Flyers are gearing up for their first set of local games since the fall 2007 season hosting Toledo Sunday, April 6 at 2 p.m. ET at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex, followed by Ohio State Friday, April 11 at Baujan Field at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Head Coach Mike Tucker is proud of the growth among the team throughout the spring season. "I have to commend our young women for their dedication to improvement made throughout the winter and spring. They have collectively made great strides in their strength and conditioning, technical skills and have continued to perform well in the classroom," said Tucker.

Dayton has played in four games so far this spring including two contests at both the Purdue Tournament in February and Indiana Tournament in early March.

At the Boilermakers Tournament Dayton shutout Loyola-Chicago, 4-0, but were downed by the host school Purdue, 1-0. In Indy, Dayton picked up two ties against Indiana (2-2) and Butler (1-1).

"On the field we have scheduled as competitively as possible and the results have been quite encouraging. Five of our six spring opponents were NCAA tournament participants last year," said Tucker. "That is the standard that we intend to meet as we continue to build the UD program."

UD will take to the field at Louisville this coming Saturday, April 5 versus the Cardinals in game that will kick off around 1 p.m. ET.

The Flyers will then return home to face Toledo on Sunday (2 p.m. ET) in Xenia, Ohio, followed by Ohio State the following Friday, April 11 (7:30 p.m. ET) on Dayton's Baujan Field.

"It will be great to conclude our spring season with a tough away match at Louisville and two very entertaining matches at Baujan Field," said Tucker.

"Big East powerhouse Louisville, MAC champion Toledo and traditional Big Ten power Ohio State will provide great competition and allow us to gauge our progress. I'm sure that we will not disappoint! Our fans will see the nucleus of what we feel will be a powerful UD squad in 2008," Tucker added.

The women's squad finished 2007 with a 13-4-4 record and went 6-2-3 in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers secured a fifth place finish in the league, ending the year in dramatic fashion losing to the Fordham Rams on a penalty kick shootout (4-3) in the semifinal round of the A-10 Championship. Although Dayton loses eight seniors, among their returnees is A-10 Offensive Player of the Year Mandi Bäck.