Valpo (5-6-1, 1-2-0 MVC)
Sunday, Oct. 11 - at UNI (1-9-1, 1-2-0 MVC) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: It's a second straight weekend on the road for the Valpo soccer team, as the Beacons play at UNI Sunday afternoon.

Previously: The Beacons dropped their first MVC road match of the season last Sunday at Murray State by a 3-0 final. It was 2-0 in the 83rd minute when Kiara Desiderio looked to have halved the deficit by putting away a rebound, but after video review, an offisde was called and the Racers completed the scoring 30 seconds later.

Looking Ahead: Valpo returns home to Brown Field next week for a pair of matches, hosting Southern Illinois on Thursday, Oct. 15 and Evansville on Sunday, Oct. 18.

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 146-145-54 (.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: Valpo owns a slight 7-6-2 advantage in the all-time series, but it's the Panthers with a 5-4-2 edge since Valpo joined the MVC. Last season, Molly O'Rear struck in the 20th minute to give the Beacons an early lead on Brown Field, but UNI responded with goals in each half to earn a 2-1 win.

Scouting the Opposition: UNI enters Sunday's match at 1-9-1 on the season, with its lone win coming over Belmont in MVC play. Last time out, the Panthers dropped a 6-0 decision at Illinois State. UNI has scored just four goals on the season, with Ella Ubben scoring a pair and assisting on one other. In goal, Hailey Luedtke has seen the majority of playing time and owns a 2.27 GAA and a .769 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 12 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 five occasions, resulting in five of their six 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 312 chance Valpo would play 12 consecutive matches without scoring exactly one goal at least once.

Once Again: For the third time in a four match stretch, sophomores Martha Goddard and Kiara Desiderio both found the back of the net in the win over Indiana State. 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 and tied for 53rd 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.