Thrilling 4-2 win for Flyers men’s soccer Saturday night

Sophomore defender Geni Kanyane (No. 6, pictured Sept. 29 against Kentucky) provided the assist for the Flyers opening goal and scored the final goal in a 4-2 win Saturday night. Photo courtesy of Keegan Gupta, Flyer News.

Peter Burtnett | Sports Editor

The Dayton Flyers men’s soccer team overcame a late deficit to beat UMass 4-2 Saturday night at Baujan Field.

With four combined shots on goal and five corner kicks taken through the 35th minute, senior attacking midfielder Kingsford Adjei took a pass from sophomore defender Geni Kanyane, turned, and ran between two defenders before pushing a left-footed shot past the UMass goalkeeper and into the bottom right corner for a 1-0 Dayton lead.

The Flyers held onto the lead at halftime, but ten minutes into the second half, UMass was awarded a penalty and converted to draw even at 1. Ten more minutes past before the Minutemen scored again to take a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes left.

Senior forward Eren Elbutsu’s shot in the 71st shot was blocked by a UMass defender, but the rebound fell to junior midfielder Andy Sanchez, who settled the ball before passing it into the bottom left corner of the net to even the game at 2-2.

As time began to run short in the 84th minute, Sanchez delivered a cross from the touchline and into the penalty box. The cross was met by a header from senior defender Elias Harryson, who put the ball into the back of the net to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.

Four minutes later, Adjei returned the favor from the game’s opening goal by passing across the penalty area to a charging Kanyane, who fired a bullet of the underside of the crossbar and into the net to solidify a 4-2 win for the Flyers.

“There has been a lot of frustration the last few games where I thought we put together good moments,” head coach Dennis Currier said. “Tonight, we put together 90 minutes. I thought the first half we were excellent. It’s always tough when the penalty kick gets called, but we responded great. We scored some really good goals today. I thought the energy was great. I thought it was a great team win with all 33 guys doing their job and responsibilities.”

With the win, the Flyers snap a six-game drop in form (5 losses, 1 draw; 15 goals conceded) to improve to 4-5-2 overall and 1-1-0 in Atlantic 10 play. Next up in A-10 play is George Washington away on Oct. 6.

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