Valparaiso (0-0-0, 0-0-0 MVC)
Thursday, Aug. 13 - at Eastern Illinois (0-0-0) - 3 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16 - at SIUE (0-0-0) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: The 34th season for the Valpo soccer program gets underway this week with a pair of road matches in the Prairie State. The Beacons lift the lid on the 2026 campaign Thursday afternoon at Eastern Illinois before heading down for a Sunday afternoon match at SIUE.

Previously: Valpo faced outside competition once during the preseason, hosting the Blue Demons of DePaul on Aug. 6.

Looking Ahead: The Beacons open their 2026 home schedule on Brown Field next week with a pair of home matches, hosting Western Illinois Aug. 20 and Detroit Mercy Aug. 23 to kick off the nine-match home slate.

Following the Beacons: Both matches this week will be carried on ESPN+. 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 141-139-53 (.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: Eastern Illinois - Valpo owns a 7-9-3 record against the Panthers, most recently falling to them last August on Brown Field by a 2-1 final. Thursday's matchup marks the fifth straight year the two sides have met in August, with EIU holding a 2-1-1 advantage in the previous four seasons. Valpo and EIU briefly shared conference affiliation in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1996-1998.

SIUE - The Beacons will face off with the Cougars for just the second time in program history and the first time since John Marovich's first season as Valpo head coach, as the only previous matchup came in October 2008 - a 2-0 home win for Valpo.

Scouting the Opposition: Eastern Illinois - The Panthers are coming off an 8-8-3 record in 2025, including a 5-3-1 mark in OVC play, and were picked to finish second in the OVC this year in the conference's preseason poll. EIU returns a trio of First Team All-OVC selections from last year, including OVC Goalkeeper of the Year Ella Kratochvil.

SIUE - The Cougars went 3-12-5 last season, including a 2-4-3 mark in OVC play, and were picked to finish fifth in the OVC this year in the conference's preseason poll. Goalkeeper Sarah Bozeman and forward Tori Bockstadter were named the Cougars' Players to Watch this season.

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.

New Faces in Goal: For the second time in three years, Valpo enters the season with a goalkeeping corps which has not played a minute at the Division I level. Two-time conference Goalkeeper of the Year Salange Bell joins the Beacons from Montclair State, while freshman Adria Schultz looks to make her collegiate debut as well.

Valpo in the Openers: Last year's squad dropped its season opener at Detroit Mercy by a 2-1 final, snapping a streak of three straight positive results for the Beacons in season openers (2-0-1 2022-24). This year marks the third time in five seasons Valpo will open up veruss Eastern Illinois, as the two squads battled to a scoreless draw at EIU in the 2022 opener and Valpo claimed a 2-1 home win in the 2023 opener.

Starting on the Road: This season marks the third straight campaign that the Beacons have opened the season with back-to-back road fixtures. Last year saw Valpo open with a swing through Michigan, taking on Detroit Mercy and Oakland, while in 2024, it was two games in Illinois to start, with matches at Chicago State and Eastern Illinois.

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.