The Valparaiso University women’s soccer program announced its 2017 schedule on Wednesday, which features eight home games at Brown Field and the team’s first slate of Missouri Valley Conference play since 1998.

The Crusaders play their lone exhibition match at Morehead State on Aug. 13 before opening the regular season with a pair of games at Brown Field. Valpo will host Grace in the opener on Aug. 18 before welcoming IUPUI to Brown Field two days later.

Valpo travels to Boca Raton, Fla. for a pair of tough tests at the Owl Classic the next weekend. The pair of tournament games opens for the Crusaders Aug. 25 versus Florida Gulf Coast, which won 14 matches and captured the Atlantic Sun Championship last season. Valpo then takes on host Florida Atlantic, a 12-game winner in 2016, on Sunday, Aug. 27.

The Crusaders return home to Brown Field for another weekend of home play, hosting Eastern Illinois (Sept. 1) and Belmont on Senior Day (Sept. 3), before heading out on a five-match road trip. Valpo travels to Wright State (Sept. 8), Fort Wayne (Sept. 10), Western Michigan – a 13-win squad last year (Sept. 15), and Toledo (Sept. 17) before opening MVC play at Missouri State on Sept. 23.

Valpo concludes the non-conference schedule at home against Chicago State on Sept. 28 and then returns to MVC action two days later at Drake, which posted a 12-4-3 record in 2016. The Crusaders will also play on the road at Loyola (Oct. 7) and Indiana State (Oct. 22) during Valley play, while hosting UNI (Oct. 14), defending MVC champion Illinois State (Oct. 18) and Evansville (Oct. 26).

The Missouri Valley Conference women’s soccer championship opens on Sunday, Oct. 29 with first-round games hosted by the tournament’s third and fourth seeds before moving to Missouri State for the semifinals and championship game. The title game will be played on Sunday, Nov. 5, with the tournament champion earning the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.