Sunday, September 24, 2006

Valparaiso scored twice in the first half which proved to be more than enough on Sunday afternoon at Eastgate Field and the Crusaders defeated Evansville 3-0 tying a school record with their sixth straight victory.

The Crusaders continue their school-best start moving to 8-2 on the year, and have tied the 2000 squad with the six-match winning streak.

Lori Johnson (Sachse, Texas/Naaman Forest H.S.) started the scoring 26:23 into the match from ten yards out, deflecting a cross from Jessie White (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo Grove H.S.). Kendall Brown (Lake Zurich, Ill./Carmel Catholic H.S.) also drew an assist after starting the play from the far side.

Johnson's goal was the fifth of season for the sophomore and her fourth match-winner of the year, tying Lori Moore's single season mark for victors set in 2000 and 2001.

Laura Murphy (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley H.S.) added her first career goal with five minutes remaining before intermission scoring in the box after feeds from Sarah Jewell (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill H.S.) and White.

Jewell capped the scoring with 13:56 to play in the match scoring on a goal mouth scramble after Dana McGlone (Littleton, Colo./Heritage H.S.) served the ball to the middle of the box.

The Crusader defense was stifling yet again on Sunday, as it has been most of the season, allowing just one team in the first ten matches to score more than one goal against the Brown and Gold.

Erin Murray (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley H.S.) made four saves for her second shutout of the season and 13th of her career, most in school history. Whitney Raeon made four saves for the Purple Aces in the loss.

Valparaiso held a 10-7 shot advantage over Evansville (4-4) as well as a 3-1 edge in corner kicks.

The Crusaders will look for a school-best seventh straight win on Friday afternoon as the Brown and Gold travel to Youngstown, Ohio to face future Horizon League foe Youngstown State. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. CDT.