Box Score 

                A four-goal outburst, Valparaiso’s largest since last October, helped the Crusaders to improve to 2-1 on the season with a 4-0 shutout victory over IPFW on Friday afternoon at Eastgate Field.

               The Crusaders dominated possession in the opening half, outshooting the Mastodons 11-0 in the first 45 minutes.  Jackie Thomas (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest H.S.) put the Brown and Gold on the scoreboard midway through the first stanza, heading home a corner off of the foot of Lynnea Pappas (Parma, Ohio/Holy Name H.S.).  For Thomas, it would be her second match-winner on the season already.

                 Sarah Jewell (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill H.S.) made it 2-0 Crusaders when she followed her own shot, connecting on a rebound and beating IPFW netminder Malinda Holmer for her 11^th career goal, moving her into a tie for seventh place on Valpo’s all-time scoring list.

                Pappas struck quickly herself to open the second half, bending in a corner kick into the goal for her first collegiate tally at the 47:19 mark, giving the freshman a three-point day.

                “I was pleased that we came out in the second half and scored the third goal early,” Crusader head coach Stephen Anthony said.  “With a 2-0 lead, scoring the third goal is very important and I stressed with the team today to finish strong.”

                Finish strong they did, as Jackie Kondratko (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.) added the fourth goal, cleaning up a rebound in the goal box after Brittany Derksen’s (Chugiak, Alaska/Chugiak H.S.) shot hit the post.

                Valpo finished the contest outshooting IPFW (0-3) 19-4 for the match and holding a 13-0 edge on corner kick opportunities.

                “I thought we did a nice job of changing the point of attack and attacking the end line as was evident with the 13 corners we earned,” Anthony added.

                Mele Cabral (Boulder, Colo./Fairview H.S.) needed to make just two saves for the Crusaders earning her first college shutout.  Holmer finished with four saves for the Mastodons.

                “We emphasized all week about responding to a disappointing outing last Sunday against Illinois State and I felt we did a good job today both with organizing ourselves defensively and in our attack,” Anthony said.  “We had several other close opportunities in the second half in addition to the goals we scored so I was pleased with the effort and the result.”

                Valpo will look to improve to 3-1 on Sunday afternoon as the Crusaders take to the road for the first time in 2007, heading to Indianapolis, Ind. to battle former Mid-Continent Conference foe IUPUI.  Kickoff against the Jaguars is set for 12 p.m. CDT.