Valpo (2-4-1, 0-0-0 MVC)
Thursday, Sept. 10 - Oakland (1-3-1) - 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 13 - Southern Indiana (0-5-2) - 1 p.m.

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: The Valpo soccer team closes out the nonconference campaign this week with a pair of home matches on Brown Field, hosting Oakland Thursday evening and Southern Indiana Sunday afternoon. The latter match will serve as the program's Senior Day match.

Previously: The Beacons split their two matches last week, earning a 2-0 road win at Purdue Fort Wayne before falling 2-0 at the hands of perennial NCAA Tournament program Milwaukee.

Looking Ahead: Valpo opens the Missouri Valley Conference schedule next Sunday, Sept. 20 as it hosts defending MVC regular season champion Drake.

Following the Beacons: Both of this week's matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+, and 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 143-143-54 (.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: Oakland - The Golden Grizzlies own a 12-5-2 advantage in the all-time series, which includes stretches where the programs shared conference affiliation in the Mid-Continent Conference (1999-2006) and the Horizon League (2013-16). Last season, in the first meeting between the two programs in six years, Valpo and Oakland played to a 1-1 draw in Rochester - each side converted a penalty kick in the tie, with Molly O'Rear scoring for the Beacons.

Southern Indiana - The Beacons and Screaming Eagles are meeting for the second time, with USI prevailing last season in Evansville by a 2-0 final in the first meeting.

Scouting the Opposition: Oakland - The Golden Grizzlies enter Thursday's match at 1-3-1 on the season, most recently playing to a scoreless draw with Rochester Christian despite a 42-2 advantage in shots. Oakland has been held scoreless since a 3-0 season-opening win over Mercyhurst. OU was picked in fifth place in the Horizon League preseason poll.

Southern Indiana - The Screaming Eagles enter the week at 0-5-2 on the season, with a matchup against Cleveland State Thursday prior to their visit to Brown Field on Sunday. USI was picked in third place in the OVC preseason poll.

Celebrating the Seniors: Valpo will honor its senior class on Sunday prior to its match against USI, recognizing seven team members in their final season with the Beacons: Alex Arnold, Daisy Boardman, Tatum Coleman, Julianna De Simone, Eve Miller, Emma Paraskos and Carly Stewart.

On the Horizon: Valpo's match against Oakland on Thursday marks its third straight contest against a Horizon League foe, following matchups with Purdue Fort Wayne and Milwaukee last week. 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.

Looking For Nonconference Success: With a pair of wins this week, the Beacons would close out their nonconference slate at .500 with a 4-4-1 record. That would mark the fifth time in the last seven seasons that Valpo has finished .500 or better in the nonconference schedule.

Home Sweet Home: 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.

Weather or Not: Maybe it's a good thing the Beacons won't be traveling for a while, as inclement weather seems to follow them around on the road. Valpo had a delay of around two hours for lightning last week in its match at Purdue Fort Wayne, already the third time this season it has dealt with a lightning delay in a road fixture - the start of the season opener at Eastern Illinois was delayed a half hour, while the match at SIUE featured a lightning delay of around 45 minutes late in the first half.

Rock On, Raco: Freshman Sofia Raco has made an immediate impact on the Beacons' attack in her rookie season. Raco tallied an assist in each of the first two weekends of action, and most recently scored the eventual match-winning goal in Valpo's victory at Purdue Fort Wayne last Thursday. Raco's four points are tied for third-most on the team.

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. She added her team-high third goal of the year last week in the win at Purdue Fort Wayne, giving her six goals for her collegiate career.

Clean Sheet: Junior goalkeeper Salange Bell boasted 16 shutouts in goal in her two seasons at Montclair State, but picked up her first clean sheet at the D-I level last week, blanking Purdue Fort Wayne. Bell went on to make a season-high seven saves last time out at Milwaukee.

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.

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 24 collegiate matches, including seven in 15 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.

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.