Valpo (5-5-1, 1-1-0 MVC)
Sunday, Oct. 4 - at Murray State (1-8-2, 0-2-0 MVC) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: The Valpo soccer team hits the road for the first time in Valley play this weekend, trekking to Murray, Ky. for a Sunday afternoon matchup against Murray State.

Previously: A late roller-coaster ride ended in the Beacons' favor Sunday, as after visiting Indiana State leveled the match with two minutes to play, Kiara Desiderio hit a perfect penalty 31 seconds later to give Valpo a 2-1 victory over the Sycamores.

Looking Ahead: It's another weekend on the road next weekend, as Valpo continues MVC action at UNI.

Following the Beacons: This week's match 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 146-144-54 (.503) 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: Valpo owns a slight 5-4-1 advantage in the all-time series against Murray State, but the Beacons' last win in the series came in the first matchup as MVC opponents in October 2022 - since then, the Racers own a 3-0-1 advantage, including a 1-0 road win at Brown Field last season.

Scouting the Opposition: Murray State enters Sunday's match with a 1-8-2 overall record this year. The Racers have dropped each of their first two MVC matches, including most recently a 2-1 defeat at Southern Illinois. Seven different players, plus an own goal, have accounted for MSU's eight goals this season. In goal, Griselda Revolorio has played every minute and owns a 1.45 GAA and a .758 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 seven of their 11 matches and own a 5-1-1 record in those matches - in fact, in all seven matches, they found the back of the net at least twice. On the other hand, they've been held scoreless on four occasions, resulting in four of their five defeats.

Two or More: Diving a little deeper into the fact the Beacons have yet to score exactly one goal in a match this season - if it feels like that's unusual, that's for good reason. Prior to this season, the highest number of matches a Valpo team had scored two-plus goals in a match to start the season before scoring just one goal in a match was four, by the 2006 side. Over the last five full seasons, the Beacons have scored exactly one goal in 36 of 95 matches, or 37.9% of their contests - using that probability, there's approximately a 1 in 200 chance Valpo would play 11 consecutive matches without scoring exactly one goal at least once.

So This is the Road: When the Beacons hop on the bus Friday afternoon to begin their journey to Murray State, it will be their first time together on a road trip in nearly a month. Valpo closed nonconference play with a pair of home matches before opening the MVC schedule with two matches on Brown Field.  This marks the first time Valpo four consecutive home matches since playing five in a row back in the Eastgate Field days in September and October 2008. The 28-day stretch between games away from home is the longest such stretch in program history.

Once Again: For the third time in the last four matches, sophomores Martha Goddard and Kiara Desiderio both found the back of the net last time out in the win over Indiana State, as both players have now scored four goals in the last four matches. 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, tied for first among MVC players and 31st nationally. 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 being just past the halfway mark 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.

Putting Away Goals: With six goals over its last two nonconference wins, Valpo bumped its season total to 16 goals. It was the program's highest goal total entering its first conference match since the 2005 side tallied 17 goals prior to its Mid-Con opener. The Beacons scored multiple goals in six of their nine nonconference matches.

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.