Preseason bonding helps Flyers soccer to NCAA berth

Team forged chemistry during a preseason stay at the Athletes in Action facility in Xenia.

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer

Updated 12:03 PM Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Most coaches would prefer not to start a season with a road trip, but Mike Tucker, the University of Dayton women’s soccer coach, thought the best decision he made all year was loading his players on a bus back in August and getting them out of town.

Because UD’s preseason camp opened before campus housing was ready, the Flyers spent a couple of days at the Athletes in Action facility in Xenia. And the chemistry forged on that get-away helped propel them to an Atlantic 10 title and an NCAA tournament berth.

“We would all eat together, all practice together and all do different activities together,” said junior star Kathleen Beljan. “And even in our down time ... because we were at that camp, we all just hung out as opposed to going our separate ways. It brought us close together.”

That unity certainly will come in handy when the Flyers (18-3) begin NCAA tourney play against Virginia Tech (10-9-1) at Ohio State at about 7:30 p.m. Friday. OSU (14-4-1), the Big Ten co-champ, plays Northeast Conference winner St. Francis (15-4-2) in the first game of the doubleheader at 5 p.m.

The Hokies, one of eight ACC teams in the field of 64, eliminated the Flyers from the tourney last season in a second-round game at Baujan Field. UD dropped a 1-0 regular-season decision at home to the Buckeyes this season.

Tucker, who has led the Flyers to seven NCAA berths in 16 years, doesn’t consider the trip to the AIA grounds a stroke of genius, calling it instead “dumb luck” because UD’s campus was closed.

He’s glad it was.

“When you come to camp that early, you have one group here, another group there,” he said. “They all got to know each other. They all got to spend a lot more time together than they would have otherwise. That was big. We’re going to try to do that every year now.”

Contact this writer at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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