The second quarter offered more hope as the Billikens changed up their defensive scheme. The defense was not run as crisply as it could have been, seeing that it was never reviewed in practice, but it was enough to slow Dayton down and prevent them from scoring in the second. Unfortunately with the large roster turnover from last year, SLU’s offense had not gelled and they could not gain any ground as they failed to score themselves. At the end of the half it was still Flyers 6, Billikens 1.
The second half was more of the same, as it seemed Dayton was about to breakthrough the reshuffled Billiken defense, but often times could not quite capitalize on 6-on-6 situations. Unfortunately, SLU amassed a number of penalties that gave Dayton extra-man opportunities. Dayton was extremely crisp on the EMO and capitalized for a total of four EMO goals in the second half. Dayton also added a couple of even strength goals for good measure. The highlight of the second half was Ben Zaegel scoring his first goal of the year assisted by transfer attackman Steve Ferris. Ben is going to be a monster on the crease with his 6’3” 260 lb frame. All-American Jeff Steitz also scored an unassisted goal in the fourth quarter to round out SLU’s scoring for the day.
All in all, the trip was not a success, but it was beneficial as it gave the Bills much needed game experience and a chance to work on shoring up their weaknesses against other opponents. SLU will not play again until March 24th when the take on #10 Augustana followed by a very tough Wheaton team. The games will be played at Wheaton on their stadium field.
|
