Valparaiso (7-6-0, 3-1-0 Horizon)

Crusaders look to move to top of Horizon League table

Saturday, Oct. 8 - 6 p.m. CT – Dayton, Ohio – at Wright State (5-6-2, 3-0-1 Horizon)

This Week in Crusader Soccer: Entering the weekend in a tie for second place in the Horizon League standings, the Valparaiso University women's soccer team faces the one team ahead of it in the table, as the Crusaders travel to Dayton, Ohio to face first-place Wright State on Saturday evening.

Previously: The Crusaders picked up big league wins over both halves of the Horizon League's Wisconsin contingent last week. Valpo rallied for a 2-1 win in extra time at home over Milwaukee - just the program's second-ever win against the Panthers - before traveling to Green Bay and coming away with a 2-0 win over the Phoenix.

Looking Ahead: Valpo returns home to Brown Field next weekend for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 15 versus Youngstown State.

Following the Crusaders: Saturday's match at Wright State will be broadcast live on ESPN3, WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Links for the video, as well as live stats, will be available via ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach John Marovich: The 2014 Horizon League Coach of the Year, John Marovich holds a 80-58-27 record both overall and with Valpo in his ninth season at the helm of the Brown and Gold. Just the third head coach in program history, Marovich became the winningest coach in program history last week with Valpo's victory over Milwaukee.

Series Notes: Valpo is just 2-9-4 all-time against the Raiders, but the series is 1-1-4 in the last six meetings. Last season, the Crusaders and Raiders played to a 1-1 draw during the regular season at Valpo, but Wright State earned a 2-1 victory in Dayton in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship.

Scouting the Opposition: Wright State enters Saturday's match at 5-6-2 overall this season, but is atop the Horizon League standings, as the Raiders have started league play 3-0-1. Last time out, WSU had to battle into extra time before taking down Youngstown State by a 2-1 final. Nine different players have combined to score 17 goals for the Raiders this year, led by four tallies from Mattie Cutts, while Katie Ruff has seen the vast majority of action in goal and owns a 1.32 GAA and a .795 save percentage.

Crusaders Picked Fourth in Preseason Poll: Valpo has been chosen to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Horizon League preseason poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The Crusaders totaled 57 points in the preseason polling, in which coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team, to tie Wright State for fourth place. Oakland edged out Milwaukee by one point to top the preseason poll.

Looking Back at 2015: Last year's Crusader squad posted a 7-8-3 record, including a 4-4-1 mark in Horizon League play. April Cronin and graduated senior Rita Craven both repeated as First Team All-League honorees and were NSCAA Third Team All-Region choices, while Kelsey Jahn represented the Crusaders on the league's All-Freshman Team.

Marovich Sets Wins Record: The dramatic win over Milwaukee last Wednesday was extra-special for the leader of the Crusaders. Head coach John Marovich won his 79th career match with the victory over the Panthers, becoming the winningest coach in Valpo women's soccer history as he surpassed his predecessor, Stephen Anthony. Marovich also holds the program record for winning percentage by a head coach (.567).

Scoring the Clincher: Sophomore Cory Griffith has made a habit recently of scoring the goal which ends up being the deciding goal in victories. Last week, Griffith netted the match-winner in both of Valpo's wins, scoring in the 99th minute for the golden goal in the win over Milwaukee before opening the scoring in the 59th minute in the eventual 2-0 Crusader win at Green Bay. Griffith, who owns the match-winner in the Crusaders' last three victories, now has four match-winning goals on the season to tie a program single-season record.

Distributing and Finishing: Both Morgan Manzke and Vanesa Abad picked up three points for the Crusaders last week, tallying a goal and an assist. Manzke, who entered the week without a point to her credit this season, did both in the win over Milwaukee, scoring the equalizer before assisting on the match-winner. Abad also had no points on the year before assisting on the first goal versus the Panthers and then scoring an insurance goal at Green Bay.

Cronin Continues to Contribute: Senior April Cronin added another assist to her ledger last week, helping on the Crusaders' second goal in their win over the Phoenix. Cronin sits in second place alone in program history in both career goals (23) and points (55), and is tied for second in match-winning goals with nine, just one off the school record. With at least six matches to play this season, Cronin leads the Crusaders with six goals and 15 points, poised to break into Valpo's single-season top-10s in both categories.

Barrett Strong in Goal: Since being called upon to step in between the pipes in goal, redshirt freshman Tess Barrett has been steady for the Crusaders. Barrett owns a 5-3-0 record in nine appearances with a GAA of 0.94 and an .814 save percentage. In six of eight starts, Barrett has surrendered one goal or fewer, and she picked up her third clean sheet of the season last time out at Green Bay.

Playing Extra Time: Four of Valpo's last six matches have gone beyond 90 minutes, while the Crusaders have seen five total matches this year go into extra time. Each of the last three years, Valpo has played overtime in at least six matches. The difference so far this year has been the final results in extra time, as all five such matches so far have seen a golden goal scored - a far cry from the program's history, as entering the season, 43 out of 83 (51.8%) of the team's matches which went into extra time ended in draws.

Weekly League Honors: Griffith was tabbed the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week this past week for scoring the pair of match-winners, becoming the third Crusader to earn the honor this season. Ava Porlier received the award earlier this year for her two-goal performance at Western Michigan, while April Cronin picked up the honor early on following a seven-point weekend - including her hat trick at Loyola. Entering this year, Valpo had not earned a Horizon League Offensive PoW award since the league split offense and defense in 2012.

Experience Back in 2016: Among the 18 letterwinners who return for the Crusaders in 2016 are seven of last season's 11 most regular starters. The team features plenty of new blood as well, however, as nine freshmen are in their first year at Valparaiso.