Valpo soccer freshman Kiera Desiderio (St. John, Ind./Hanover Central) put the Beacons ahead Thursday evening on Brown Field with her third goal in two games, but visiting Eastern Illinois came back with two second-half goals to come away victorious, 2-1.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo had a golden opportunity to take the lead when it was awarded a penalty kick in the 32^nd minute, but the effort from the spot was denied by EIU goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil.
• It took less than three minutes for the Beacons to make up for it, however. Freshman Martha Goddard (London, England/Alleyns School) flicked a ball into space in the box. An EIU defender attempted to shield Desiderio off and allow her keeper to get to the ball, but the goalkeeper hesitated before coming out, giving Desiderio the chance to get past the defender and poke it inside the left post with her right foot.
• Valpo carried the 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
• The Beacons limited the Panthers to just three shots in the second half, but two of them found the back of the net. A ball into space in the 62^nd minute gave Abby Reinl the chance to run onto it and go one-on-one with Valpo goalkeeper Kate Sheridan (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids), and Reinl knocked it home to level the match.
• Then, in the 78^th minute, Kratochvil delivered a long punt downfield which went over the head of a Valpo defender and into the path of Reinl, who was one-on-one with Sheridan for the second time and converted.

 
Inside the Match

• The EIU goals snapped a stretch of three straight matches for the Beacons to open the season without allowing a goal in the run of play.
• Desiderio's goal was the third of the freshman's season, already the most by a Valpo freshman since current senior Molly O'Rear (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) netted four in 2022.
• All three of Desiderio's goals have come in the last two matches, the most goals in a two-match stretch by a Valpo player since Addy Joiner netted four over a two-match span against Kentucky and Chicago State in August 2023.
• Goddard picked up an assist for a second straight game, the first Beacon with helpers in back-to-back contests since Abby White delivered assists against Eastern Michigan and Evansville in September 2023.
• Valpo fell on Thursday despite holding a 13-9 shot advantage; however, the Panthers put five of their efforts on goal to the Beacons' three. Sheridan made three saves in the losing effort.
• Valpo has gone four consecutive matches to open the season without being shown a card.

 
Thoughts From Coach Marovich
"Obviously it's tough to lose a game when you're up 1-0. But as we look at this group, it's a group which has a really good spirit to it, good fight, good competitiveness, and I liked the way we continued to battle all the way through the last minute tonight."
 
"We made a couple defensive errors and were punished for them, and we had some chances on the attack where we left some meat on the bone, and failing to convert those can come back to bite you."
 
"I thought we had some nice positives tonight — Kiera with another goal, Lily had a really good shift, Hannah had a really good performance. There's good things happening within this group, but we have to continue to focus on performance and not just get caught up in the positive or negative results."
  
"We're still working through the identity of this group. We think we've found some things, but we have to continue to train it. We're 5 1/2 weeks in, we're still learning and we have to really perfect what we do in terms of our shape."
 
Next Up
Valpo (1-2-1) closes out a three-match homestand at 1 p.m. Sunday on Brown Field against former Horizon League rival Wright State. The match is part of the program's Alumni Weekend, specifically honoring the 20-year anniversary of Valpo's first conference championship in 2005.