Valparaiso (4-11-1, 0-7-1 MVC)
Thursday, Oct. 24 - UIC (6-9-2, 5-2-2 MVC) - 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 27 - at Missouri State (9-4-3, 7-0-1 MVC) - noon

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: The Valpo soccer team closes out the 2024 season this week with its last two matches of the campaign. The Beacons appear for the final time at Brown Field Thursday night against UIC before traveling to take on MVC regular season champion Missouri State Sunday afternoon.

Previously: Valpo dropped both matches on its road trip last weekend, falling 4-0 at Belmont and 2-1 at Murray State.

Following the Beacons: Both matches will be aired live on ESPN+ and will have live stats via ValpoAthletics.com. All home matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+ as part of The Valley on ESPN, while most road fixtures will also have live video available. 

Head Coach John Marovich: In his 17th season at the helm of the Valpo program, John Marovich holds a 136-129-49 (.511) record both overall and at Valpo as a head coach. The 2014 Horizon League Coach of the Year and the head of the 2022 MVC Coaching Staff of the Year, Marovich holds Valpo's all-time records for both victories and winning percentage.

Series Notes: UIC - Valpo holds a 4-2-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Flames. Last season, UIC earned a 1-0 win in Chicago, while two years ago in the last meeting on Brown Field, it was the Beacons with a 4-0 victory.

Missouri State - The Bears own a slim 5-4-2 edge in the all-time series, but Valpo is 3-1-1 in the last five matchups. That includes a 0-0 draw in regular season play last year at Brown Field, followed by a 1-0 win in extra time by the Beacons in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament.

Scouting the Opposition: UIC - The Flames come into Thursday night's match in second place in the MVC standings, sitting at 5-2-2 in conference play. A balanced attack has seen 12 different players score the side's 16 goals this year. Lauren Keiser and Francesca Faraci have split most of the time in goal this season, with the latter owning a 0.91 GAA and an .822 save percentage.

Missouri State - The Bears secured the MVC regular season championship two match days ago and come into the week at 9-4-3 overall, including a 7-0-1 mark in conference action. Julia Kristensen has been involved in 14 of MSU's 22 goals this year, posting five goals and nine assists. In goal, Camielle Day has seen the vast majority of time, owning a 1.24 GAA and a .753 save percentage.

Valpo Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll: The Beacons were chosen to finish in fifth place in preseason polling of the MVC head coaches. Valpo tallied 83 points in the poll, coming in just behind UIC (87) and UNI (85). Missouri State was picked to win the conference and garnered seven first-place votes, while Drake was chosen second and picked up three first-place nods. 

Preseason Honoree: Senior forward Addy Joiner was recognized by the Valley as a preseason First Team All-MVC honoree when the preseason poll was released. Joiner has twice earned postseason recognition, as she was a First Team All-MVC selection in 2022 and picked up Third Team All-MVC accolades in 2023. Joiner netted eight goals last season, tying her for third in the MVC and moving into a tie for ninth on the program's single-season goals chart. She enters her final campaign tied for sixth in program history with 18 career goals, tied for seventh with 40 points and tied for eighth with six match-winning goals.

Looking Back at Last Season: Valpo claimed its first MVC Tournament championship since joining the Valley in dramatic fashion in 2023, winning four consecutive tournament matches  by 1-0 finals to earn the crown and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014, where it battled #9 Notre Dame to a scoreless first half before eventually falling 2-0. The Beacons finished the season 11-6-6 overall and went 3-3-4 in MVC regular season play, finishing sixth in the regular season standings. Nicole Norfolk was a First Team All-MVC selection, highlighting six Beacons who earned postseason recognition from the Valley, and also picked up Second Team All-Region honors.

Who's Back: In a rarity in the transfer portal era we live in, all 20 players from the 2023 team who did not graduate are back and on the 2024 roster. That includes five regular starters and 13 of the team's 27 goals from last season. 

Who's Gone: But the Beacons did graduate a decorated class of nine players who closed their time at Valpo with championships in back-to-back seasons, a group which accounted for 54.2% of the team minutes played in 2023. The four-year seniors who graduated put together maybe the best four-year stretch in program history, posting a 19-7-10 record in MVC play and advancing to four consecutive MVC Tournament semifinals. That group of seniors combined for nine All-MVC selections, 12 MVC weekly awards, 28 goals, 27 assists and 28 shutouts over their four years.

Who's New: Chomping at the bit to be the next group of Beacons to help keep Valpo among the MVC's best are 10 newcomers to the roster in 2024. That group includes nine true freshmen and grad transfer Ella Schad, who is utilizing her COVID year of eligibility after playing four seasons at Coastal Carolina.

Bidding Farewell: This week's matches will mark the final appearances in the Valpo uniform for the program's senior class. Ella Schad joined the program this year as a grad transfer, while Lauren Cook, Cara Crompton, Peyton Evans, Dana Fish, Sam Gountounas, Addy Joiner, Emma Morrison and Abby White have all spent the last four seasons at Valpo. Over that time, they have been part of 33 victories, an MVC regular season championship side in 2022 and an MVC tournament championship squad in 2023.

Youth in the Side: Valpo's group of freshmen has been called upon to do some heavy lifting this season for the Beacons' side. Entering this week, Valpo's freshmen have accounted for 41.6% of the team's minutes played by field players. That figure is the highest among all MVC schools, while Illinois State is the only other team which comes in above 25%.

Going at It Shorthanded: The Beacons were down a number of regulars on Sunday at Murray State due to injury, leading to Valpo's starting XI having to carry a heavy load. Valpo utilized just four substitutes on Sunday for a combined total of 68 minutes of aciton.

Joiner Just Keeps Going: Senior Addy Joiner enters the week tied for second on the MVC scoring chart, as she scored her sixth goal of the season against Murray State. With a pair of assists to her credit, Joiner also is tied for fifth in the MVC with 14 points.

Joiner's goal against Murray State was the 24th of her career, fourth-most in program history and one shy of April Cronin in third place. With 54 career points, she sits alone in fourth place in program history, while she also ranks fifth all-time at Valpo with eight match-winning goals.

Shooting With Accuracy: Joiner's six goals this year have come on 23 shot attempts, a ratio a bit better than her career line of 24 goals on 107 shots. The 107 shots is easily the fewest in the career of any of Valpo's top-10 career goal scorers, as the next fewest shot attempts was Rachel Hoaglin's 117. In addition, Joiner's shooting percentage of 22.4% is easily the best of any of Valpo's most prolific goal scorers - second-best is Cory Griffith's 16.6% clip.

Confidence, Cohen: A natural defender, freshman Ashlyn Cohen has been deployed up front for the Beacons since mid-September. The move has paid off recently, with Cohen finding the back of the net twice this month - she scored her first collegiate goal on Oct. 3 at Illinois State to open the scoring, and she struck for Valpo's second goal of the game versus Evansville.

Seniors Scoring: While Valpo's second goal of the Evansville contest came from a freshman, it was bookended by a pair of seniors. Abby White opened the scoring with her first goal of the season and the fourth of her career, while Sam Gountounas struck for the Beacons' third goal, her third tally of the year and sixth of her career.

Freshman Finds the Touch: Freshman Kaleigh Shafer delivered the pair of strikes for goals which lifted Valpo to a 2-1 victory at Wright State, the first two goals of her collegiate career. Shafer is the first Valpo freshman with a multi-goal game since Maria Broecker tallied two goals in Horizon League Tournament action at Oakland Oct. 31, 2016.

88th Minute Magic: The second of Shafer's goals came with just 2:04 to play, remarkably the second time this year Valpo has found the match-winner in the 88th minute of play, as Addy Joiner scored with 2:36 remaining in the win over Milwaukee. They are Valpo's two latest match-winning goals in regulation since Kelsey Jahn struck with 27 seconds remaining in the 90 minutes in the 2017 MVC opener at Missouri State.

Making Stops: Freshman Hailey Wade played just 45 minutes in goal over the first four matches, but stood out over the next two fixtures. She came on at halftime against #15 Xavier and acquitted herself well, making six saves while surrendering just two goals. Wade then earned her first career start at Wright State and made 11 saves in the Beacons' 2-1 victory - the most saves by a Valpo player since Kezia Gesell stopped 12 shots in a win at Illinois State Oct. 8, 2018. For her efforts in those two matches, Wade was named the MVC Goalkeeper of the Week. Then, in her next outing, Wade recorded the first shutout of her collegiate career, blanking Eastern Michigan.

Player of the Week: For her multiple goal involvements in the Milwaukee win, Joiner was named the MVC Player of the Week. It was the fifth weekly honor of her career - she earned Freshman of the Week once as a rookie, was Player of the Week twice as a sophomore and then once as a junior. Joiner joins Lori Moore as the only players in program history to earn weekly recognition from the conference office at least once in each of their four seasons.

Nonconference Complete: The Beacons finished the nonconference slate with a 4-4-0 record. It is the fourth time in the last five seasons that Valpo has finished at or above .500 in nonconference action.

That Tourney Run: It was a magical 11 days in late October and early November last fall, as Valpo embarked on its dramatic run to claiming the MVC Tournament championship. The Beacons won all four of their tournament fixtures by 1-0 finals - the first time in program history Valpo has won four matches in a single postseason, and the first time in program history the team has strung together 1-0 wins in four straight matches. The final three of those four victories came over the top three teams in the regular season standings, including the title match win over host and regular season champion Drake. In three of those four matches, it took the Beacons until after halftime to find their lone goal, including one match that went to extra time scoreless. As the sixth seed in the MVC Tournament, Valpo became the lowest seed ever to win the Valley title and was the first team outside the top-two to claim the championship since 2007.