Nine seniors, seven of whom played Sunday, experienced the program’s first NCAA tournament victory Thursday in a penalty-kick shootout against Oakland and nearly led the team to the third round for the first time. The unseeded Flyers lost 4-3 to No. 9 seed Ohio State in another shootout at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Maik Schoonderwoerd scored to give Dayton a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute, but Ohio State’s Danny Jensen tied the game in the 73rd minute.
James Haupt and Carlos Sendin missed kicks in the shootout against Chris Froschauer, the 2015 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year who started the previous three seasons at Dayton. Big Ten champion Ohio State (13-6-3) will play Santa Clara or Stanford in the next round.
The Flyers finished the season 13-5-5. That’s a six-win improvement over last season when they were 7-7-5.
“They went through a lot of heartbreak last year,” said Dayton coach Dennis Currier, who won his 300th career game Nov. 13. “We allowed some really late goals in games. We ended in a real tough game where we played for the league title. To come back and win the conference tournament championship and for them to experience this, it was just tremendous.
“Ultimately, they’ll never forget this for the rest of their lives. It just brings a stronger bond. It was a really good run. It was an exciting team. We led the country in goal scoring. To be a part of that was just amazing from a coaching standpoint.”
Dayton set a new school record with 58 goals this season. It looked as if the last one, by the Netherlands native Schoonderwoerd, would send Dayton on to the next round.
“I got a great ball from Alex Amankwaah from the left side,” Schoonderwoerd said. “I saw the goalie come to me. I just let it land on my head and it went in.”
The lead lasted 23 minutes until Jensen slipped a shot just to the left of Saliba. The Flyers outshot the Buckeyes 17-12 and had one great opportunity in the second overtime. Amass Amankona hit the crossbar with a shot in the 102nd minute.
The Flyers came within inches of avenging a 2-0 loss to the Buckeyes on Sept. 25.
“We took a lot from that game,” Currier said. “Defensively, they’re very difficult to break down. Their back four is very organized. We came in with a different game plan. We wanted to get the ball out wide more and do more services. We made some adjustments pressing and staying in their half as much as we could.”
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