The Valpo soccer team battled to a draw for a second consecutive outing on Sunday afternoon in Chicago, as the Beacons finished the 90 minutes against host UIC tied 1-1.
 
How It Happened

• It took the Beacons less than four minutes to open the scoring on Sunday. Ashley Harvatin (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Timberland) sent a ball down the right-hand touchline towards the end line for Kiara Desiderio (St. John, Ind./Hanover Central). Sandwiched between two defenders, Desiderio shrugged one off and nutmegged the other to get the ball towards the six-yard box. It got away from her briefly, but UIC's goalkeeper missed on a diving attempt to corral it, wiping out one of her backs in the process, and Desiderio was on the spot to side-foot it home with ease to give Valpo the early lead.
• The Beacons carried the 1-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
• UIC leveled the score in the 61^st minute, as Bella Baker got behind the Valpo defensive line and converted a one-on-one opportunity with what would be the match's final goal.

 
Inside the Match

• Valpo picked up a point in MVC play for the second straight contest. It is the first time the Beacons have drawn in consecutive matches since a stretch of three straight ties in MVC play in 2023.
• Desiderio's goal was her team-high sixth of the season, good for third among MVC players and tops among Valley freshmen. She is now just two goals away from cracking the program's single-season top-10 chart.
• Coming 3:34 into the match, Desiderio's goal was the fastest by a Valpo player this season and the fastest since Addy Joiner scored 1:42 into the Beacons' match at Murray State on Oct. 20 last season.
• Sunday's match was tightly contested, featuring just seven shot attempts for each side. The Beacons put two of theirs on goal, while the Flames had three on goal, as Kate Sheridan (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) made a pair of saves.

 
Thoughts From Coach Marovich
"I'm really pleased with our group's performance today. We had a really good tactical plan setup, and I thought we executed that well, which created an early opportunity and got us the early goal."
 
"I felt like we had a good handle on the game for most of it. We moved the ball well against a good side, had some really good individual defending and were able to create chances."
 
"It's unfortunate that UIC's goal happened the way it did and we only get one point out of the game, but going on the road in conference and getting a point in never a bad thing. This is about our team's performance today, and that was quite good."
 
Next Up
Valpo (3-5-3, 0-1-2 MVC) returns home to Brown Field Saturday, Oct. 4 as it faces UNI at 5 p.m.