Valparaiso (3-1-4, 0-0-0 Horizon)
League play opens with a pair of games in a four-day span
Wednesday, Sept. 24 – Oakland (2-7-1, 0-0-0 Horizon) – Brown Field – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 27 – at Cleveland State (5-4-1, 0-0-0 Horizon) – Cleveland, Ohio – 6 p.m. CT
This Week in Crusader Soccer: The Horizon League schedule opens up for Valparaiso this week with a pair of matches. The Crusaders open the league slate at home against Oakland Wednesday evening before heading out east to take on Cleveland State Saturday night.
Previously: The Crusaders extended their unbeaten streak to seven consecutive matches last Friday afternoon on the road at Eastern Illinois, overcoming a one-goal deficit at the half to earn a 3-1 victory over the Panthers. Vanesa Abad, April Cronin and Robin Wenzel all found the back of the net for Valpo
Following the Crusaders: Both matches this week can be seen live on the Horizon League Network, while Wednesday’s will also have an audio broadcast on WVUR. Links for the live video and audio, as well as live stats for both contests, will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Over the course of the 2014 season, seven matches will have free live video on the Horizon League Network, including four matches at home, while WVUR, Valpo’s student radio station, will also be broadcasting select home matches.
Head Coach John Marovich: John Marovich holds a 55-43-24 record both overall and with Valpo in his seventh season at the helm of the Brown and Gold. Just the third head coach in program history, Marovich has the best winning percentage (.549) ever at Valpo, and ranks second in total victories.
Series Notes: Oakland – A series which had been dormant since Valparaiso left the Mid-Con following the 2006 campaign resumed last season on Oakland’s arrival in the Horizon League. The Golden Grizzlies own an 8-4-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a 2-0 win in Rochester last season.
Cleveland State – Valpo has dominated the all-time series with the Vikings, entering this year leading the series 9-1-0. Last season, an 88th minute goal from Morgan Manzke was the deciding tally in a 2-1 Crusader win.
Scouting the Opposition: Oakland – The Golden Grizzlies come to Brown Field with a 2-7-1 record on the season and will also open league play on Wednesday evening. Kyla Kellerman has scored a team-best four of Oakland’s 11 goals, while Alice Palmer has chipped in two goals and three assists. Stephanie Bukovec and Alison Holland have split time in net, with the latter boasting a 1.18 GAA.
Cleveland State – The Vikings enter this week with a 5-4-1 record on the year, downing Eastern Kentucky last Friday 4-0 in their most recent match. CSU will open league play at Detroit on Wednesday before the Saturday matchup with the Crusaders. Amanda Civic has scored a team-best four goals, while two other players have found the back of the net three times. Sarah Wood has seen the vast majority of action in goal and has a 0.98 GAA.
Unbeaten Streak: The win over Eastern Illinois last week for the Crusaders extended Valpo’s undefeated streak to seven consecutive matches, as the Crusaders have not lost since the opening contest of the season. Over that stretch, the team owns a 3-0-4 record. It is Valpo’s longest unbeaten streak since a seven-match streak spanning the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and is the longest single-season undefeated streak since the Crusaders won seven straight contests late in the 2009 campaign. With a result on Wednesday, the Crusaders would tie the longest unbeaten streak in program history – an eight-match winning streak in 2006.
Comeback Kids: Despite trailing at the half at EIU on Friday, Valpo was able to rally for the 3-1 victory, something the Crusaders had not done for quite a few years. In fact, you have to go back to the 2010 season opener at UMKC to find the last time Valpo was down at intermission and came back to win in regulation – in that game, the Crusaders trailed the Kangaroos 1-0 at the break and won 3-2.
Three Goals, One Half: For the first time in over two full years, the Crusaders found the back of the net three times in a single 45-minute period against the Panthers. The last time Valpo tallied three goals in one half was on Sept. 9, 2012 against Bowling Green, when the Crusaders registered three markers in the final 45 minutes of a 3-0 win.
Keeping the Ball Out of the Net: While the Crusaders saw their streak of four consecutive shutouts snapped at Eastern Illinois – as well as their stretch of six straight matches without conceding in the run of play – they still rank among the best teams in the nation defensively. Valpo has surrendered just four goals through eight matches, and ranks 14th nationally in save percentage (.882) and 17th in GAA (0.45). Individually, goalkeeper Sydney Galvez-Daley ranks 20th in save percentage (.879) and 17th in GAA.
Plenty of Chances: The Crusaders continued their run of dominating the shots category in the win at EIU, out-shooting the Panthers 20-4. That effort came one week after Valpo tallied 30 shots in a win at IPFW, fifth-most in a single match in program history and the most by a Crusader team since 2006. Buoyed by those efforts, Valpo is currently averaging 18.4 shot attempts/game, an increase of over six shots from last season’s team.
Craven Craving Match-Winners: Junior Rita Craven has made it a habit in her time at Valpo to make her goals count. She tallied three goals in her first two seasons – at IPFW as a freshman, and against DePaul and at Youngstown State last season – and all three of them were match-winning goals. Craven has kept the trend alive this season, as she enters this week with two goals this year – the match-winners in the back-to-back victories over Western Illinois and IPFW.
Crusaders Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll: The head coaches selected Valparaiso to finish in fifth place in the Horizon League this season according to the preseason poll. Milwaukee was picked to capture the league title, with Oakland and Wright State right behind the Panthers.
Looking Back at 2013: Last season’s Crusader squad posted an 8-7-3 record, their ninth winning campaign in the last ten years. Included among the eight victories were a season-opening win over DePaul – the program’s first-ever win over a major conference program – and a victory over Northwestern – the Crusaders’ first against a Big Ten opponent. Valpo continued its tradition of being a strong defensive side, surrendering just 15 goals in the 18 games. Ten different players scored goals for the Crusaders, with 16 players in all tallying points.
Roster Breakdown: This year’s Crusader squad brings back 19 players from last season’s roster, 16 of which saw action last year and seven of whom were regular starters. In addition, six newcomers – two transfers and four freshmen – join the fray as well.
