CINCINNATI – The University of Dayton Flyers were shutout 1-0 in their season opener against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Gettler Stadium on Wednesday.

“The difference in the game was the first 20 minutes. I think that the guys were a little nervous. After the first 20 minutes that’s when we started to come on strong,” Dayton head coach Dennis Currier said. “We hit the crossbar near the end, and I thought it was going to go in.”

The Flyers were inches away from evening the contest in the final minute as freshman Jordan Beckett rang the game-tying goal against the crossbar with just seconds left in the match.

“We have to realize that the difference in the game is the small details. We saw it in that last shot. If we could have gotten the pressure on earlier, I think we could have tied the game up,” Currier said.

Dayton was outshot 15-11 in the match as junior goalkeeper Tyler Picard made five stops. UC also held the advantage with three corner kicks, while UD had none.

The Bearcats opened the scoring in the sixth minute after UC’s Matthew Bahner buried the rebound from Roger Thompson’s header off of the crossbar to give Cincinnati the 1-0 lead.

Dayton was outshot in the first half 7-6 as the Flyers had a couple of close chances by freshmen midfielders Andres Acevedo and Marlon Duran.

Despite a late surge in the winding minutes, UD was unable to capitalize after Beckett’s shot caromed off of the crossbar.

The Flyers return to Baujan Field for their home opener against the IPFW Mastodons in the second game of a doubleheader with the women’s soccer team. Kickoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. in the contest. In addition, Duran and sophomore Ryan Bauer will be on WRGT Fox 45 showing off their best soccer trick on Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m.