Valpo (1-3-1, 0-0-0 MVC)
Thursday, Sept. 3 - at Purdue Fort Wayne (0-3-1) - 3 p.m. CT
Sunday, Sept. 6 - at Milwaukee (1-3-1) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: The Valpo soccer team plays its final road matches of the nonconference slate this week, traveling to face Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday and Milwaukee on Sunday.

Previously: Taking on a Western Michigan team which has not lost at home since 2023 and which was coming off a draw with #12 Colorado in its previous outing, the Beacons acquitted themselves well on Sunday, battling the Broncos before falling by a 2-0 final - the second goal coming late with Valpo pushing forward in search of the equalizer.

Looking Ahead: Valpo closes out nonconference action next week at Brown Field, hosting Oakland on Sept. 10 and Southern Indiana for Senior Day Sept. 13.

Following the Beacons: Thursday's match will be broadcast live on ESPN+, while Sunday's will not have a video stream. Live stats for both matches 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 142-142-54 (.500) 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: Purdue Fort Wayne - Despite having never shared conference affiliation, Purdue Fort Wayne is one of Valpo's most common opponents all-time. Valpo leads the all-time series 14-6-1, including a 3-0 win last season on Brown Field which saw Kiara Desiderio net a pair of goals - her first collegiate tallies. That win by the Beacons snapped a four-match winning streak in the series by the Mastodons.

Milwaukee - The Panthers lead the all-time series 16-3-0, but Valpo's three wins have come in the last four meetings between the two sides, including in the only meeting between the two programs in the last decade - a 2-1 come-from-behind win on Brown Field Aug. 25, 2024 which saw Sam Gountounas net the tying goal in the 72nd minute before Addy Joiner's 88th-minute winner. Valpo and Milwaukee shared conference affiliation in the Horizon League from 2007 through 2016, during which time Valpo earned its first win in the series - a 1-0 win in 2014 as part of its league title campaign.

Scouting the Opposition: Purdue Fort Wayne - The Mastodons enter Thursday's fixture with an 0-3-1 record this season, most recently falling 3-0 at Eastern Illinois this past Sunday. Purdue Fort Wayne is coming off a 2025 campaign in which it posted a 2-15-1 overall record and went 1-9-0 in Horizon League play.

Milwaukee - The Panthers come into the week with a 1-3-1 overall record against a challenging early-season slate, as they have already played a pair of nationally-ranked opponents and will face another in #22 Wisconsin before Sunday's matchup. Milwaukee captured its 24th Horizon League regular season title in the last 26 years last season (Valpo's win in 2014 being one of the two non-Panther titles) and won its fifth consecutive Horizon League tournament title as well.

On the Horizon: Following this week's pair of matches, Valpo returns home to take on Oakland next Thursday, making it three straight contests against Horizon League foes. This is actually the second straight season the Beacons have played three straight against teams out of the Horizon League, as the 2025 schedule opened with Detroit Mercy, Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne. It is also the second time this season Valpo has played three consecutive fixtures against teams out of the same conference, as the season opened with OVC foes Eastern Illinois, SIUE and Western Michigan.

Returning Home: After Sunday, it will be nearly a month before Valpo's next road trip, as the Beacons close nonconference play with a pair of home matches before opening the MVC schedule with two matches on Brown Field.  It is the first time Valpo will have played four straight 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 will be the longest such stretch in program history.

A Big Win: Valpo's 4-0 victory over Western Illinois was the program's largest margin of victory and most goals scored since downing the Leathernecks 5-1 last season. It also marked the program's largest home victory since a 5-1 win over Chicago State Aug. 31, 2023.

Stringing Together Multiple Goals: The Beacons found the back of the net eight times over a three-match stretch, bookending the four-goal performance against WIU with multiple goals against SIUE and Detroit Mercy. It is the first time Valpo has scored at least two goals in three straight contests since doing so in a three-match stretch in MVC play versus Evansville, Belmont and Murray State in October 2022.

A Rare Defeat: The Beacons' loss to Detroit Mercy was notable in that they fell despite finding the back of the net twice. Valpo entered the day 31-0-3 in its previous 34 matches when scoring at least two goals. Prior to the loss to the Titans, the last time Valpo had dropped such a match came in a 3-2 defeat at Indiana State Oct. 5, 2019.

Back-to-Back: Sophomore Brylie Walos entered the second weekend of play without a collegiate goal to her credit and having taken just 10 shot attempts in 19 career matches, but she made sure she wouldn't exit the weekend that way. Walos found the back of the net in the eighth minute against Western Illinois for the eventual match-winner, and followed against UDM with a 71st-minute goal which brought the Beacons to within 3-2. She is the first Valpo player to net a goal in consecutive matches since Molly O'Rear did so against Western Illinois and Drake mid-September last season.

Brace Yourself: Sophomore Martha Goddard did a lot of things last year as a rookie on her way to MVC All-Freshman Team honors, but she added a new accomplishment to her resume in the Western Illinois win. Goddard stepped up to a penalty kick and dispatched it for her first goal of the season in the 67th minute, and then capped the scoring with a 75th-minute strike for her first career brace. The sophomore has now tallied five collegiate goals.

One, Two, Three Goal Involvements: Junior Ashley Trippeer came into the WIU match with one goal and no assists across her 37 collegiate matches before playing a part in three of Valpo's four goals in the win. Trippeer delivered the primary assist on Walos' match-winner, scored her second collegiate goal in the 13th minute and registered the assist on Goddard's second goal to make it three goal involvements on the evening. Trippeer is the first Valpo player with a multi-assist match since Molly O'Rear did so at Western Illinois last year, and the first with three goal involvements in a match since O'Rear and Kiara Desiderio did so in the aforementioned match.

Just Helping Out: Junior Alyssa Thomas tallied one assist apiece in each of her first two collegiate seasons, but has outdone her career total already this season. Thomas assisted on Valpo's second goal in the draw at SIUE, on the match-winning goal in the win over WIU and on the Beacons' first goal against Detroit Mercy. She is the first Beacon to accomplish that since Martha Goddard did so last year in nonconference play — prior to that, you have to go back to 2017 to find a Valpo player with helpers in three consecutive contests.

Picking Up Where She Left Off: It's no surprise to see sophomore Kiara Desiderio celebrating goals, and she has done so twice already this season, giving the Beacons the lead in the 81st minute at SIUE in the eventual draw and getting Valpo on the board late in the first half against Detroit Mercy. Desiderio now has nine goals in 22 collegiate matches, including seven in 13 matches in nonconference action. The sophomore also picked up an assist on Valpo's second goal versus UDM, the third time in her career she has had multiple goal involvements in a match.

Long Time Coming: 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 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.

Putting In Defensive Work: Given that team saves are not assigned to individual players in box scores historically, the rarity of what happened at SIUE 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.

Making Debuts: Ivy Barba and Adria Schultz both earned starts in their first collegiate matches as freshmen at Eastern Illinois, 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. This past week, the Western Illinois match featured the Valpo debut of Salange Bell, who played the second half in goal before starting at keeper against Detroit Mercy. Also against WIU, Meja Blomkvist and Payton Rofe made their respective collegiate debuts.

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.