“This is something unique to me,” said senior defender Xavier Zengue. “I’ve never really been a part of something this special before. Obviously, it’s great to win, but I feel like it’s been hard to really appreciate it because we’re always looking toward the next game.”
Dayton plays Saint Louis at 7 p.m. Saturday at Baujan Field and stays at home to play Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It closes the regular season at noon Oct. 29 at Massachusetts.
Dayton climbed from No. 22 to No. 19 in the United Soccer Coaches poll after the draw with Kentucky (8-0-5). Dayton ranks 43rd in the RPI. It is tied for third in the nation with 2.69 goals per game and tied for fourth in goal differential (plus 26).
Forster Ajago leads the team with six goals. Andy Sanchez and Manny Day have five goals each. Michael Adedokun and Joseph Melto Quiah each have five assists.
Coach Dennis Currier hopes his team has built a NCAA tournament resume. The program last played in the tournament in 2015 when it beat Oakland in the first round before losing to Ohio State.
“I think we’ve got a great resume,” Currier said, “in terms of the teams we’ve played and our RPI — we’re still unbeaten — along with our how well our offense is doing and our defense. Building that resume is really important, especially when it comes down to the end. We still need a few more wins here. But I’m very confident with the resume that we’ve built.”
In the A-10 standings, Dayton trails Duquesne (4-0-2) by two points and Saint Louis (4-1-1) by one point. Saint Louis beat Dayton twice last season by 2-0 scores and won the regular-season championship with an 8-0 record. Saint Louis ranks 26th in the RPI.
“They’re hot right now, and they made a big run in the NCAA tournament (to the third round) last year,” Currier said. “With our guys, I think what we’ve done best is getting out on the front foot, like we did against Kentucky, and we’ve got to do the same. We’ve got to come at them. We’ve got to press high. We’ve got to get have our offense clicking. Then we’ve got the home-field advantage and the great support that we get here.”
Dayton built a 2-0 lead against Kentucky with first-half goals by Logan Brown and Basit Umar but gave up a goal in the 44th minute and then the tying goal in the 86th minute.
“That first half was one of the best halves we’ve ever had here at the University of Dayton,” Currier said. “We really were unfortunate not to be up 3-0, and then we got to the second half, and the wind picked up even more so we were just trying to hold on there toward the end.”
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