Valparaiso scored three times in less than 18 minutes spanning
both halves on Friday evening as the Crusaders defeated IPFW 4-2 at Hefner
Stadium in Fort Wayne, Ind. to improve to 3-0-1 on the season, the
best four match start in program history.
“I was really pleased with
the performance of our team tonight, especially in the second half,” head coach
John Marovich said. “We were able to
tweak some things with the system during the match and the kids responded to
them.”
The Crusaders found the
scoreboard first with just over 10 minutes remaining before halftime. Rachel Hoaglin (Lakeville,
Minn./Academy of Holy Angels H.S.)
picked up a Mastodon clearing attempt, dribbled down field, and fired a blast
from 25 yards out, beating goalkeeper Erin Nayler.
Valpo took the 1-0 lead into
intermission, despite being outshot 5-3 by IPFW.
Less than three minutes into
the second half, Valpo struck again. Brooke Henderson (Westlake,
Ohio/Westlake H.S.) headed home a free kick
off of the foot of Sarah Melhorn (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake H.S.) to make it 2-0 Crusaders.
“We scored some really nice
goals tonight, including Brooke’s off of a set piece” Marovich added.
Four minutes later, Luisa Desario (Bartlett, Ill./Barlett
H.S.) gave Valpo a three goal advantage with her second tally of the
season. Catherine Terrell (Brighton,
Mich./Brighton H.S.) started the
play, finding Lauren Gagnon (Grand
Haven, Mich./Spring Lake H.S.) in the middle
of the box. Gagnon slotted the ball to
Desario, who beat Nayler one on one for the goal.
“In the second half we did an
extremely good job of moving the ball and changing the point of attack,”
Marovich said.
IPFW (1-3) got on the
scoreboard with 32:24 to play in the match as Lisa Underwood scored her first
goal of the season with Tara O’Toole drawing the assist.
Valpo immediately answered as
Casey Pedersen (Northville, Mich./Mercy
H.S.) scored her first goal as a Crusader.
With Henderson
drawing the assist, Pedersen beat Nayler from 25 yards out to the far post,
giving the Brown and Gold a 4-1 advantage.
The Mastodons would add one
late goal with just under 20 minutes remaining as Arianne Mason scored on a
ball that slipped through Valpo keeper Kristen
Manski’s (Saint Charles,
Ill./North H.S.) hands, but that
would be the last time IPFW would find the back of the net on the night.
“We played pretty solid
defensively all night, but we made two mistakes and that’s what we have to
clean up,” Marovich concluded.
Valpo finished the match with
just eight total shot attempts, but six of them were on goal with four finding
the back of the net. IPFW had 15 total
attempts, with Manski making five stops between the posts.
The Crusaders return home on
Sunday afternoon to host Eastern Kentucky at
Eastgate Field, looking to remain unbeaten on the 2010 season. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Match Notes: Valpo
is now 7-2-1 all-time against IPFW and has won four straight meetings between the
two schools … this was the first time all season Valpo was outshot in a match …
Desario is the only multi-goal scorer for the Crusaders this season, with seven
other players having one goal each … Desario also has a team-leading six points
… Gagnon tied Desario for a team-leading two assists … Hoaglin and Desario each
have eight career goals … Valpo’s four goals in a match were the most since
posting a 4-0 victory against IPFW at Eastgate Field on Sept. 7, 2007.