Valparaiso (0-1-1, 0-0-0 MVC)
Thursday, Aug. 20 - Western Illinois (0-2-0) - 7 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 23 - Detroit Mercy (1-1-0) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: After a pair of road matches to start the 2026 campaign, the Valpo soccer team takes to the home turf of Brown Field for the first time in the regular season this week, welcoming Western Illinois on Thursday evening and Detroit Mercy on Sunday afternoon.

Previously: The Beacons went 0-1-1 in the opening week of action, falling 2-0 at Eastern Illinois on Thursday afternoon before drawing 2-2 at SIUE on Sunday.

Looking Ahead: It's a one-match week next week for Valpo, as the Beacons will have seven days between matches before returning to action Sunday, Aug. 30 at Western Michigan.

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 141-140-54 (.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: Western Illinois - Valpo owns a 10-3-1 advantage in the all-time series over WIU, which includes a eight-season stint from 1999 through 2006 where the two programs were both members of what was then the Mid-Continent Conference. Last season, the two sides renewed acquaintances for just the second time since 2014, with the Beacons prevailing 5-1 in Macomb. That match featured the quickest four goals to open a match in program history, as Valpo struck four times in the first 19:51. Kiara Desiderio had a brace and added an assist, while Molly O'Rear had three goal involvements as well (1g, 2a) and Martha Goddard and Tatum Coleman each had a goal.

Detroit Mercy - The Titans own an 11-5-0 advantage in the all-time series over Valpo, which includes a 10-season stretch where both programs were Horizon League members (2007-2016). Last season, the two sides met for the first time since Valpo departed the Horizon League for the MVC, with UDM earning a 2-1 win in the season opener in Detroit despite a goal from Alyssa Thomas in what was her Beacon debut. Notably, the series features a pair of 1-0 wins by Valpo over the Titans in 2014, the first of which clinched the Horizon League regular season title and the second of which came in the championship match of the Horizon League Tournament.

Scouting the Opposition: Western Illinois - Coming off a 1-17-1 season in 2025, the Leathernecks were picked to finish in eighth place in the OVC preseason poll. WIU opened the 2026 campaign with a pair of MVC opponents last week, falling 3-0 at home to Indiana State and 5-0 on the road at Southern Illinois.

Detroit Mercy - Coming off a 2-13-3 season in 2025, the Titans were picked to finish in 11th place in the Horizon League preseason poll. UDM opened the 2026 campaign by splitting a pair of matches, falling 6-0 at Kentucky before returning home to earn a 1-0 victory over Eastern Michigan.

Brown Field Opener(s): The Beacons are looking to extend their run of success in home openers Thursday night against Western Illinois, as they have won each of their last four home debuts: 1-0 over Youngstown State in 2022, 2-1 over Eastern Illinois in 2023, 2-1 over Milwaukee in 2024 and 3-0 last season over Purdue Fort Wayne. On the flip side, with a win on Thursday, Valpo would be looking for just its second 2-0 start at home in nine years on Sunday - only the 2023 squad won each of its first two home matches in that stretch, eventually going unbeaten in its first six home matches (3-0-3).

Another OVC Opponent: Thursday's matchup against Western Illinois is the third straight for Valpo against an Ohio Valley Conference opponent to open the campaign - the Beacons will eventually play four of the eight OVC programs in nonconference action. This is the second straight year Valpo has opened with three straight matches against teams from the same conference, doing so last year against Horizon League foes. Ironically, the Beacons will play three straight matches against Horizon League teams again next month.

On the Scoresheet: Scoring chances don't come often for senior defender Daisy Boardman, as she had tallied just 17 total shots and just five on goal in the first 49 matches of her collegiate career. But match number 50 proved to be the charm, with Boardman giving Valpo its initial lead late in the first half Sunday at SIUE with a volley off a corner kick. It is the latest in terms of number of games played a Valpo player has scored their first goal since Chase Ray, who found the back of the net for the first time at Evansville Sept. 21, 2023 in her 57th career match.

Picking Up Where She Left Off: On the flip side from Boardman, it's no surprise to see sophomore Kiara Desiderio celebrating goals, and she did so on opening weekend, giving the Beacons the lead in the 81st minute at SIUE in the eventual draw. Desiderio now has eight goals in 19 collegiate matches, including six in 10 matches in nonconference action.

Putting In Defensive Work: Given that team saves are not assigned to individual players in box scores historically, the rarity of what happened Sunday would be near impossible to research, but it feels safe to say you don't see this happen very often. Not only did Boardman and Desiderio each score a goal, both players had goal line clearances which registered as team saves - Desiderio headed a ball off the line off a shot from a corner in the 25th minute, while Boardman did her best goalkeeping impression in an open net to keep a shot out in the 67th minute.

An Early Assist: Freshman Sofia Raco wasted little time picking up her first collegiate point, delivering the corner kick which Boardman scored off of in Sunday's draw with SIUE. She is just one of two Valpo freshmen in the last 12 seasons to tally an assist within the season's first two matches, as only Landyn Wessels (2024, at Chicago State) has done so in that stretch as well.

Two or More: Sunday's 2-2 draw at SIUE marks the first time since Oct. 13, 2024 that the Beacons have not won a match in which they scored at least two goals, drawing 3-3 that day against Evansville. Valpo is 30-0-3 in its last 33 matches when it has scored at least two goals, last dropping such a match in a 3-2 defeat at Indiana State Oct. 5, 2019.

Lightning Delays: As of the time of these notes being written, the forecast for kickoff Thursday night versus Western Illinois is for partly cloudy skies and 72 degrees (knock on wood!), a welcome sight for a Valpo side which has been affected by weather in each of its first two matches. In the opener at Eastern Illinois, lightning in the area during warmups forced the match's start time to be moved back a half hour. Then on Sunday at SIUE, forecasted afternoon heat and humidity led to kickoff being moved up to 10 a.m. from 1 p.m., which then resulted in play being halted in the 38th minute for lightning in the area, causing a delay of around 45 minutes.

Making Debuts: Ivy Barba and Adria Schultz both earned starts in their first collegiate matches as freshmen Thursday at EIU, with Schultz becoming the first Valpo freshman goalkeeper to start in her first career match since Nikki Coryell debuted in goal to open the spring 2021 campaign. Raco, Sophia Bonacci and Kinly Rodell all made their collegiate debuts off the bench as well at EIU.

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 entered 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 saw the first action of her collegiate career on opening weekend.

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.