#1 Valparaiso (12-1-4, 8-0-0 Horizon)
Crusaders host Horizon League Championship at Brown Field
Thursday, Nov. 6 - 7 p.m. - #4 Green Bay (11-6-2, 4-4-0 Horizon)
Saturday, Nov. 8 - 7 p.m. - Championship match
This Week in Crusader Soccer: Hosting the Horizon League Championship for the first time in program history after earning the regular season title, Valparaiso faces #4 Green Bay in semifinal action Thursday evening at Brown Field. With a win, the Crusaders would advance to the title game Saturday night against either #2 Detroit or #3 Oakland.
Previously: Having already clinched the regular season crown, the Crusaders made sure to close out the slate on a high note, scoring three times in the first seven minutes en route to a 4-1 victory at Green Bay last Friday evening.
Following the Crusaders: All three matches from Brown Field will be broadcast live on the Horizon League Network and on ESPN3.com, with Brandon Vickrey on the call. Should the Crusaders advance to the championship match, WVUR would carry that contest live over its airwaves and online. Each of the tournament matches will have live stats as well.
Head Coach John Marovich: John Marovich holds a 64-43-24 record both overall and with Valpo in his seventh season at the helm of the Brown and Gold. Just the third head coach in program history, Marovich has the best winning percentage (.580) ever at Valpo, and ranks second in total victories.
Series Notes: Green Bay - Valpo trails the all-time series with Green Bay by a 6-8-3 margin, but has earned results in the last nine meetings between the two sides, including the 4-1 win in the regular season finale.
Detroit - Valpo is just 4-8-0 all-time against the Titans, but has won its last four home meetings with Detroit, including this season at Brown Field on Oct. 25 - a 1-0 win which secured the regular season title.
Oakland - The Crusaders are 5-8-1 all-time against the Grizzlies, with a 3-0 win on Brown Field earlier this season on Sept. 24.
Regular Season Champions: Valparaiso secured the league regular season crown, the first in program history since joining the Horizon League, with a perfect run through the league slate. It is the third regular season championship overall in program history, joining the 2005 and 2006 Mid-Continent Conference championship squads. This season is the first since 1999 that Milwaukee has not earned at least a share of the Horizon League regular season crown, while Valpo is just the fifth program in league history to earn the outright regular season crown (Notre Dame, Butler, Milwaukee, Loyola).
Perfection in League Play: Not only did Valparaiso win the regular season title, the Crusaders did so without dropping a point in league play. The perfect 8-0-0 mark within the Horizon League was the first perfect slate by a Valpo squad in program history - the 2006 squad did go unbeaten in Mid-Con regular season action, but had a pair of draws mixed in. In addition, this year’s Crusaders are only the third Horizon League side to run the table in a nine-team league, joining the 2009 and 2011 Milwaukee sides.
Craven Claims Top League Honor: For the first time in Valparaiso women’s soccer history, a Crusader has been named league Player of the Year, as junior Rita Craven was named the Horizon League Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches. Craven, who was also honored as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year and was a First Team All-League honoree, was second on the team this year with five goals and 12 points. The box-to-box midfielder tallied four match-winning goals, tying for the league lead and matching a Valpo single-season record.
Abad, Marovich Earn Major Awards: Craven was one of just three Crusaders to earn a major award in the league’s postseason awards. Redshirt freshman Vanesa Abad became the second straight Valpo player to earn Freshman of the Year honors, tallying five goals and 11 points, both among the top-ten in the league. John Marovich earned Coach of the Year accolades for the first time in his tenture, the first time the Crusaders have received a Coach of the Year award since Stephen Anthony picked up the honor in the Mid-Con in 2006.
All-League Honors: Craven (First Team) and Abad (All-Freshman) were two of five Crusader players to earn spots on the league’s various postseason squads. Craven was joined on the First Team by sophomore April Cronin, who tallied seven goals on the season, a league-best five of which came within Horizon League play. A pair of redshirt sophomores, defender Shelby Oelschlager and goalkeeper Sydney Galvez-Daley, represented Valpo on the Second Team.
Crusaders in the Championship: Since joining the Horizon League, Valparaiso is 2-4-2 in the Horizon League Championship, but has previously advanced past the first round just once, when it made the title game in 2009 following wins over Green Bay (2-0) and Wright State (2-1) before falling to Milwaukee. The two times the Crusaders have drawn their first round game (2008, 2011), they have failed to advance on penalty kicks. Last season, the Crusaders fell at Detroit in extra time in a first round matchup, 1-0.
Strong Defense Continues: The Crusaders have ranked among the nation’s top defensive squads all season long. Valpo, which gave up just three goals in eight Horizon League contests and which has not allowed more than one goal since the first match of the season, ranks seventh nationally in goals against average (0.44) and in save percentage (.879), while goalkeeper Sydney Galvez-Daley is eighth in GAA and 12th in save percentage.
Unbeaten Streak: The win over Cleveland State on Sept. 27 set a new record for the longest undefeated streak in program history, and the streak continues today. With the most recent win over Green Bay, Valpo’s undefeated streak now sits at 16 consecutive matches, as the Crusaders have not lost since the opening contest of the season. Over that stretch, the team owns a 12-0-4 record. The unbeaten streak has bested the record previously held by the 2006 side, which had gone eight straight undefeated (all victories).
Winning Them All Recently: The Crusaders started their current unbeaten run with a number of draws, going 2-0-4 in the games from Aug. 24-Sept. 14. But starting with the game at Eastern Illinois, it has only been entries in the win column for Valpo, as it has now won ten straight matches. The win over Milwaukee matched the previous record of eight straight wins (2006), while the title-clinching win over Detroit set a new standard.
Single, Solitary Loss: The last time Valpo lost a game (Aug. 22), the average gas price in Valparaiso was about $3.50/gallon. Over two months later, the Crusaders still have just the lone loss on the season, and gas is down to $2.83/gallon. Valpo is one of just six programs in the nation to enter the week with one loss or fewer, joined by UCLA, Virginia, Florida State, DePaul and Stanford.
Regionally Ranked: For the first time in program history, the Crusader program has earned a spot in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll this season. Valpo currently sits at #10 in this week's iteration of the poll, the fifth straight week the Crusaders have been ranked. Valpo is joined in the poll by seven Big Ten teams, as well as one squad apiece from the Mid-American Conference and Missouri Valley Conference.
Academic Honors: The Crusaders haven’t limited their success to the field this season. A pair of starters - juniors Rita Craven and Jenny Fassbinder - both were named CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District V honorees and are both now under consideration for Academic All-American honors. In the classroom, Craven and Fassbinder are both biology majors who own cumulative GPAs north of 3.90.
Scoring Barrage: While the Crusaders had already clinched the league title heading into last Friday’s matchup against Green Bay, they wasted no time in making their mark on the regular season finale, scoring three times in the opening seven minutes of the 4-1 win. Robin Wenzel opened the scoring 32 seconds into the match, the fastest goal to start a game in Crusader history - surpassing Lori Moore’s previous record of 44 against Oakland in 2002. The second goal then came at the 1:46 mark from Vanesa Abad, the 1:14 between goals making it the fifth-fastest consecutive goals in school history. Abby Kenyon scored her first career goal to cap the scoring with an Olimpico in the 64th minute, giving Valpo four goals, its highest output in a Horizon League game since joining the league.
Cronin Continues Strong Run: Sophomore April Cronin has just one goal last season as a rookie and went through the first seven matches this season without finding the back of the net. But since scoring a goal at Eastern Illinois on Sept. 19, Cronin has been stellar, scoring seven goals in the last ten games - including the match-winner against Milwaukee - and assisting on a goal in one of her scoreless games. Five of her seven goals have been in Horizon League games, a league high.
Making an Immediate Impact: It has been a strong conclusion to her senior season for Kenyon, who was key in the Crusaders’ title-clinching win over Detroit. Kenyon had made just one appearance over the last seven weeks before being called upon in the 69th minute against the Titans. 50 seconds later, Kenyon unleashed a flip throw-in from 30 yards out that Sarrah Ludwig headed in for the eventual match-winner. For Kenyon, it was the fourth assist in her career directly off her flip throw and the second time she has hooked up with Ludwig for a flip throw/header goal combination.
League, National Recognition: A top-ten defense nationally has seen the Crusaders earn numerous individual honors for players in the back this year. Valpo boasted four of the Horizon League’s Defensive Players of the Week, as goalkeeper Sydney Galvez-Daley twice earned the honor and defenders Shelby Oelschlager and Grace Rogers each once received the accolade as well. The defense has posted ten clean sheets this season, tied for second-most as a team in a single season in program history, while Galvez-Daley has matched the program’s individual single-season record. Speaking of Oelschlager, she was named to College Soccer 360's Primetime Performers Honor Roll two weeks ago for her work on the Crusaders' back line in the shutouts of Milwaukee and Detroit.
Crusaders Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll: The head coaches selected Valparaiso to finish in fifth place in the Horizon League this season according to the preseason poll. Milwaukee was picked to capture the league title, with Oakland and Wright State right behind the Panthers.
Roster Breakdown: This year’s Crusader squad brings back 19 players from last season’s roster, 16 of which saw action last year and seven of whom were regular starters. In addition, six newcomers – two transfers and four freshmen – join the fray as well.
