“The end of the season is when you start getting to put numbers up on banners,” coach Kelly Sheffield said. “We had a really successful year, but this team has won a lot during the regular season. I think this team wants to set their own mark, do something that’s never been done before in this program. Those things happen starting now.”
The Flyers (24-3) will take a 19-match winning streak into the six-team A-10 tourney in Cincinnati with a semifinal match at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against either Duquesne (22-9) or Fordham (17-17). The A-10 final will be at 3 p.m. Sunday on CBS College Sports.
Regardless of the tourney outcome, the Flyers already have positioned themselves to earn one of the 16 seeds in the 64-team NCAA tournament, meaning they wouldn’t face another seeded team until the regional semifinals.
They’ll also likely play at the Frericks Center in the first two rounds. Since the regionals will be held at UD Arena this year, the Flyers potentially could reach the Final Four without ever leaving home.
UD, though, has had the benefit of playing before partisan crowds in past NCAA tourneys and has never advanced beyond the second round.
“There’s no question that’s a huge driving force of what we want to do,” Sheffield said of reaching the sweet 16. “We want to play there and we want to win there. But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”
FOOTBALL: The Flyers won a league championship in part because of a sizeable cast of fifth-year seniors, and coach Rick Chamberlin could have another strong group next season.
Without the lure of a scholarship, the Flyers often don’t hang on to their fourth-year juniors because those players generally graduate and join the workforce. But UD had 16 fifth-year seniors this season, and Chamberlin said six of the nine fourth-year juniors already have told him they’re coming back.
A pair of stalwarts are among the returnees: defensive end Devon Langhorst, who was second in the Pioneer Football League with 14 sacks, and tackle Dan Prindle, an anchor on the O-line.
CROSS COUNTRY: Chris Lemon is the first UD runner to qualify twice for the NCAA men's cross country championships. He set a school record in the Great Lakes Regional by running the 10K (6.2 miles) in 30 minutes, 31 seconds.
The national meet will be held Monday at Indiana State. Lemon also qualified for the nationals in 2008 with twin brother Matt.
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.