Valpo (5-6-2, 1-2-1 MVC)
Thursday, Oct. 15 - Southern Illinois (10-2-0, 4-0-0 MVC) - 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18 - Evansville (3-5-1, 1-3-0 MVC) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: It's a return home to Brown Field for the first time in three weeks this week for the Valpo soccer team, as the Beacons move into the second half of conference play when they play host to Southern Illinois Thursday night and Evansville Sunday afternoon.

Previously: The Beacons led for over 60 minutes Sunday at UNI after a Sofia Raco goal in the 20th minute, but the Panthers struck for the match-tying goal in the 83rd minute of a 1-1 draw. Salange Bell made a season-high eight saves to preserve the draw.

Looking Ahead: Valpo returns to the road next week, playing at Belmont Saturday afternoon, Oct. 24.

Following the Beacons: Both of this week's matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+, and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. All home matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+ as part of The Valley on ESPN, while select road fixtures will also have live video available. 

Head Coach John Marovich: In his 19th season at the helm of the Valpo program, John Marovich holds a 146-145-55 (.501) 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 is Valpo's all-time leader in victories.

Series Notes: Southern Illinois - Valpo owns a 2-1-3 advantage in the all-time series against the Salukis since SIU started competing in the spring of 2021. Last season, the two sides played to a 1-1 draw in Carbondale, with Martha Goddard delivering the match-tying goal in the 41st minute after the Salukis had scored just four minutes into the match.

Evansville - Valpo is 6-10-6 all-time against Evansville, but owns a slight 4-3-4 advantage since joining the Valley. The Beacons are unbeaten in their last four against the Purple Aces, including a 3-0 win in last year's season finale in Evansville. Lauren Hill, Kate Jeffery and Kiara Desiderio found the back of the net in the win

Scouting the Opposition: Southern Illinois - The Salukis enter Thursday's match at 10-2-0 on the season, having won each of their last nine matches. That includes a 4-0-0 start to MVC play, with 2-1 wins over Evansville, Murray State and Belmont, and most recently a 1-0 win against Illinois State. Nao Katamoto has a team-high 15 points with four goals and seven assists, while Maya Dixon has scored a team-best six goals. In goal, Reagan Miller has seen the majority of playing time and owns a 0.60 GAA and an .844 save percentage.

Evansville - The Purple Aces come into the week with a 3-5-1 overall record and a 1-3-0 mark in MVC play, having earned their first Valley win of the year last time out at Belmont, 2-1. Evansville hosts UNI on Thursday prior to Sunday's matchup. Brielle LaBerge has been involved in over half the team's goals, with four goals and two assists. In goal, Bri Chirpich has seen the vast majority of playing time and owns a 1.63 GAA and a .755 save percentage.

To Score or Not to Score: It's been pretty simple most of the season for the Beacons - if they score, they're in good shape for a result. They have scored at least one goal in eight of their 13 matches and own a 5-1-2 record in those matches. On the other hand, they've been held scoreless on five occasions, resulting in five of their six defeats.

Finally, One Goal: It was a moment 13 matches in the making (although maybe not quite as impressive as the football team's recent 15-game streak of losing the coin flip) on Sunday at UNI, as for the first time this year, the Beacons scored exactly one goal in a match - prior to Sunday, they had scored in seven matches and had scored two or more in all seven. This is the longest stretch to start a season without a one-goal game, surpassing the 1993 team, which scored exactly one goal in its 10th match - that year was the program's debut season and that goal in the 10th match was the first in program history.

Rock On, Raco: Freshman Sofia Raco found the back of the net for the second time this season on Sunday at UNI, converting a breakaway in the 20th minute. She is tied for third on the team with six points, as she also had a match-winning goal at Purdue Fort Wayne and picked up assists on goals versus SIUE and Detroit Mercy. Raco has also been seeing much more playing time as of late, as after averaging 51.2 minutes/match in the season's first six matches, she's played 72.1 minutes/match in the last seven.

Helping Out: After a freshman campaign that saw her tie the program's single-season freshman record with five assists, it took sophomore Martha Goddard 13 matches into this season to pick up her first assist this year, as she broke the seal in that department by assisting on Raco's goal at UNI. It was her team-high 15th point of the season, tied for second among MVC players.

Once Again: For the third time in a four-match stretch, Goddard and fellow sophomore Kiara Desiderio both found the back of the net in the win over Indiana State in Valpo's last home match Sept. 27. Both Goddard and Desiderio had a brace against Oakland, the first time since October 2006 Valpo has had two players scored multiple goals in the same match, and each scored against Southern Indiana as well.

A Late Match-Winner: Desiderio dispatched the match-winning penalty kick with 1:29 to play in the win over the Sycamores, just 31 seconds after ISU had evened the match at 1-1. It was Valpo's latest match-winner since Kelsey Jahn scored with 27 seconds remaining in a win at Missouri State to open the 2017 Valley slate.

Record Book Watch: Goddard's goal against ISU was her seventh of the season, second among MVC players. Not only that, it leaves her just one goal shy of cracking Valpo's single-season top-10 chart. Meanwhile, Desiderio's goal was her sixth of the year and the 13th of her career, just two away from the program's career top-10 chart despite only being in the back half of her sophomore campaign.

Two Goal Scorers: This season is already the first time since 2017 that Valpo's second-leading goal scorer has tallied at least six goals for the season - that season, Sydney Griffin had six goals to trail Cory Griffith's 11 goals. Only three times in program history has Valpo's second-leading goal scorer recorded at least seven goals, while only once have they hit 10 goals (2005: Emily King 11, Kendall Brown 10).

First-Time Honoree: While Desiderio earned her third career weekly honor from the MVC office with her Player of the Week accolade Sept. 14 after her three-goal, one-assist week, senior Daisy Boardman earned a weekly award for the first time as she was recognized as the MVC Defender of the Week. Boardman played 170 of a possible 180 minutes at right back as the Beacons surrendered just one goal over their final two nonconference wins, while adding her first assist of the season on the attack versus Oakland. Boardman was just the third Valpo player to be honored as Defender of the Week since the Valley broke goalkeeper and defender into two separate weekly awards starting in 2023.

Multiple Weekly Winners: Desiderio and Boardman teamed up to mark the seventh time multiple Valpo players have earned MVC weekly accolades in the same week since Valpo joined the Valley. It was the first such instance since Sept. 26, 2022, when Addy Joiner, Nikki Coryell and Nicole Norfolk swept the player, goalkeeper and defender weekly honors.

Nonconference Success: With wins in each of their final two nonconference fixtures, the Beacons closed out their nonconference slate at .500 with a 4-4-1 record. This is the fifth time in the last seven seasons that Valpo has finished .500 or better in the nonconference schedule.

Preseason Honoree: Coming off a rookie campaign in which she was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, sophomore Kiara Desiderio was named to the Preseason All-MVC Team. Desiderio, who became Valpo's first Freshman of the Year since joining the Valley and was also a Second Team All-MVC choice, kicked off her Beacon career with a team-high seven goals in 2025 — tied for third-most by a freshman in program history. She ranked third in the MVC in goals and fifth in points (15), while also being tied for seventh nationally in goals by a freshman.

Who's Back: The Beacons return 16 players who saw action on the pitch last season, including eight regular starters. That group accounted for 73.4% of the team's minutes played by field players in 2025, including six players who played over 1,000 minutes - led by junior Ashley Trippeer, who played 1,397 minutes.

Who's Gone: Valpo graduated four seniors from last year's squad and had five other offseason departures. Notably, Second Team All-MVC honoree Molly O'Rear and starting goalkeeper Kate Sheridan were among the group of seniors.

Who's New: The Beacons welcome nine new players to the program this season: seven true freshmen, one Division I transfer and one Division III transfer.

Good as Goddard: Sophomore forward Martha Goddard returns for her second season in the Brown and Gold after a strong rookie campaign. An MVC All-Freshman Team selection, Goddard tallied three goals and recorded five assists, the latter mark matching the program record for assists by a freshman. She was tied for second in the MVC in assists and tied for fourth on Valpo's overall single-season chart. Goddard became the first Valpo player to register an assist in three consecutive contests since 2017.

Looking Back at Last Year: Valpo posted a 5-8-4 overall record in 2025 and went 2-4-3 in MVC play, earning eight more points in the Valley than the previous season despite playing one fewer conference game and raising its winning percentage 162 points year-over-year. The Beacons scored 21 goals while surrendering 28 goals, improving their goal differential by 21 goals over 2024. This all came with the vast majority of field player minutes coming from underclassmen, as the 2025 Beacons had 41.2% of their field player minutes played by freshman and 42.3% by sophomores. Kiara Desiderio was named the MVC Freshman of the Year and was joined by Molly O'Rear on the Second Team All-MVC, while Martha Goddard joined Desiderio on the MVC All-Freshman Team.