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DAYTON, Ohio - Playing against one of the nation's top teams, the IUPUI men's soccer team was unable to muster a goal for the third straight game and yielded a pair of second half scores in a 2-0 loss to Dayton. 

UD's Ryan Peterson netted the game-winner in the 55th minute and Rafael Gamboa added insurance just more than 14 minutes later. Dayton improved to 7-0-0 on the young season while IUPUI dipped to 0-7-2 to start the year. 

Much of the offensive struggles are directly tied to bodies going by the wayside. On Sunday, four players left the field with injuries, many coming in the first half. 

"It was the same story," IUPUI Head Coach Isang Jacob said. "Unfortunately, I thought we played well in the first half and we lost three players to injuries and it showed. When you play a team like this who's so confident, so strong and so athletic, you have to be on top of your game. We did have our chances, but we have to show we can finish when we have those chances.

"I've never had a situation with injuries like this before and I feel bad for the players. My heart goes out to these players. We have yet to have a game where we were 100 percent healthy and that's unfortunate."

After going to halftime in a scoreless tie, Dayton made an adjustment and finally went in front in the 55th minute. Maik Schoonderwoerd set up Peterson's third goal of the year, beating sophomore goalkeeper Eduardo Cortes on the play. Later, it was Gamboa's header off an Abe Keller that made it 2-0. Dayton outshot IUPUI 17-13 and 6-3 on goal. 

Lance Davis and Keller led all players with five shots each, with Davis having an attempt hit the post in the 75th minute. On the rebound, freshman Evan Smith's header flew just over the crossbar. 

"We were able to break them down and guys who came off the bench worked hard and gave good effort," Jacob said. "Fumio (Himeno) was a big impact in the midfield until he went down. We were excited to have him back with this being just his second game.

"I thought we played good soccer today."

Cortes finished with four saves while UD goalie Chris Froschauer made three stops. From here, the Jags get a much needed seven-day break in the action before opening Summit League play at Eastern Illinois on Sept. 29 at 3:30 p.m..

"We have seven days to get healthy and get ready for conference play," Jacob said. "We're ready for the next phase of our season. This phase is over. We're not happy with it, but we're ready to move on.

"I'll say that the boys are staying positive and staying focused. We had a good group of fans at today's game, including some alumni in Yogi (Snider) and (Kyle) Hyland. We need the alumni and our fans to stay behind us and they'll be rewarded."