Valparaiso (11-5-6, 3-3-4 MVC)
2023 NCAA Tournament - First Round
Saturday, Nov. 11, 5 p.m. CT at #9 Notre Dame (11-3-4, 7-1-2 ACC)

Next Up in Valpo Soccer: After a dramatic run to claim the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship last weekend, the Valpo soccer team heads to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history. The Beacons open NCAA play Saturday evening at #9 Notre Dame, the third seed in the region.

Previously: Sixth-seeded Valpo concluded its dramatic run through the MVC Tournament with two more wins last weekend, taking down second-seeded Missouri State in extra time, 1-0, before topping regular season champion Drake in the tournament final by an identical 1-0 final.

Looking Ahead: The winner of the Valpo-Notre Dame first-round matchup takes on the winner of LSU-Memphis in the second round.

Following the Beacons: Valpo’s first-round tournament match against Notre Dame will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Links for the live video and live stats can be found at ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach John Marovich: In his 16th season at the helm of the Valpo program, John Marovich holds a 132-117-48 (.525) 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 holds Valpo’s all-time records for both victories and winning percentage.

Series Notes: Despite the proximity of the two campuses, this will be just the fourth time in program history Valpo and Notre Dame have matched up in a fixture that counts. The last matchup between the two sides was the only regular-season matchup in series history, a 6-0 win by the Fighting Irish to open the 2015 season.

Scouting the Opposition: Notre Dame enters the NCAA Tournament with a 11-3-4 overall record and went 7-1-2 in ACC play. Most recently, the Fighting Irish dropped a 3-2 decision to Clemson in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Notre Dame had four players earn All-ACC honors this year, highlighted by the selection of Eva Gaetino as ACC Defender of the Year for a second straight season. Kiki Van Zanten, who was part of the Jamaica side which advanced to the knockout stages of last summer’s World Cup, was a First Team All-ACC selection as well.

Back in the Dance: This year marks Valpo’s third all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with exactly nine years passing in between the program’s first and second appearance as well as the second and third appearance. Notre Dame is a familiar tournament foe, as in all three of Valpo’s NCAA Tournament trips (2005, 2014, 2023), it has been the quick journey east to take on the Fighting Irish in first-round action.

Claiming Tournament Hardware: The 2023 MVC Tournament championship for the Beacons was the third conference tournament title in program history, all three of which have come in different conferences. The first conference tournament championship came in the 2005 Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, while Valpo culminated a perfect run through the Horizon League in 2014 with a pair of shutout victories to earn the HL Tournament title.

A Dramatic Run to the Crown: This year’s tournament journey was easily the most dramatic of the program’s three tournament championships. The Beacons won all four of their tournament fixtures by 1-0 finals - the first time in program history Valpo has won four matches in a single postseason, and the first time in program history the team has strung together 1-0 wins in four straight matches. In three of those four matches, it took the Beacons until after halftime to find their lone goal, including one match that went to extra time scoreless. As the sixth seed in the MVC Tournament, Valpo became the lowest seed ever to win the Valley title and was the first team outside the top-two to claim the championship since 2007.

Any Back Four Will Do: What makes the four tournament clean sheets even more impressive is the fact that, due to injuries, Valpo did not start the same back four in any of the four matches:
Belmont - White-Cup-Ramey-Gountounas
UNI - White-Ramey-Cup-Boardman
Missouri State - White-Cup-Norfolk-Ramey
Drake - White-Norfolk-Ramey-Boardman

Looking at the MVC Tournament: Here’s a brief look back at all four matches from sixth-seeded Valpo’s tournament run:

Oct. 26 - #6 Valpo 1, #7 Belmont 0 (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
The only one of Valpo’s four tournament wins in which it netted a first-half goal, Lindsey DuSatko headed home a Kelsie James corner from right on the goal line in the eighth minute with what proved to be the match’s lone tally. Nikki Coryell made five saves in goal, including back-to-back point-blank stops midway through the first half. The win was a measure of revenge for the regular season matchup, which Belmont had won 2-0 in Valpo - it was the first time since 2009 Valpo has beaten a team in the postseason it lost to in the regular season.

Oct. 29 - #6 Valpo 1, #3 UNI 0 (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
The Beacons edged out the Panthers on UNI’s home field, the lone blemish at home for UNI all season as it had entered the second-round matchup a perfect 10-0-0 in Cedar Falls. Daisy Boardman headed a ball off the post and away in the 54th minute in a scramble following a UNI corner kick to keep the match scoreless. 10 minutes later, a throw-in led to the match’s lone goal, as Lindsey DuSatko and Allie Anderson hit first-time balls to set up Kelsie James for a first-time volley for the match’s lone goal. Coryell made four saves to blank UNI for the second time in 10 days, an impressive feat against a prolific attack which racked up 45 goals for the year.

Nov. 2- #6 Valpo 1, #2 Missouri State 0 [a.e.t.] (Des Moines, Iowa)
It took until the 97th minute to ensure the dramatic run through the MVC Tournament would continue for the Beacons, with the decisive tally coming directly from a corner kick by Abby White. Valpo successfully saw out the last 12-plus minutes of action to ensure its stay in Iowa would last three more days. Nikki Coryell made seven saves for the 27th shutout of her career, matching the MVC career record in the category. The win came over a Bears squad which had surrendered just one goal in 10 Valley regular season matches, was unbeaten in MVC regular season play this season (7-0-3) and whose only loss of the season to that point had come versus Missouri.

Nov. 5 - #6 Valpo 1, #1 Drake 0 (Des Moines, Iowa)
The celebration kicked off at just after 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, as the clock hit 0:00 and confirmed that Valpo was indeed the 2023 MVC Tournament Champions. The title match looked destined for extra time until the 82nd minute, when a rebound off the post from an Addy Joiner free kick ricocheted right to Allie Anderson in the center of the box, who smashed it home to give the Beacons the lead and set up the ensuing celebration. Coryell made four saves in goal to become the outright MVC career shutouts leader with 28 career clean sheets. The win came over a Drake side which entered the match 13-3-3 on the year, won the MVC regular season with an 8-1-1 record - including a 2-1 regular season win over the Beacons - and which been shut out just once in its first 19 matches of the year.

Winning Valley Titles: The soccer program has been the standard bearer in terms of success among Valpo Athletics teams since the move to the Missouri Valley Conference prior to the 2017-18 school year. Last season, the 2022 Beacons side became the first Valpo team to win an MVC team championship when they claimed the MVC regular season title. This season’s MVC Tournament championship is the first tournament title by a Valpo team since joining the Valley.

A Tremendous Senior Class: This year’s senior class has been perhaps the most successful four-year class in program history. The quintet of Nikki Coryell, Lindsey DuSatko, Cassidy Eckstein, Kelsie James and Chase Ray - who were joined by Aubrey Ramey this season - has racked up 34 wins in their four years. They’ve posted a 19-7-10 record in Valley play - the best winning percentage by a four-year class in league action in program history - and did not finish worse than third in the MVC standings in their four years. They’re the first four-year class in program history to advance to conference tournament semifinals all four years, and of course, they were part of sides that won the MVC regular season title in 2022 and the MVC Tournament title in 2023. Maybe most importantly, this senior class has also excelled tremendously in the classroom, boasting a cumulative 3.69 GPA.

Double-Digit Wins: The Beacons enter the NCAA Tournament with 11 victories on the season, the 11th time in program history the Beacons have won 10 or more matches in a season. The 11 wins are tied for fourth-most in a single season in program history, with only the 2005, 2006 and 2014 teams winning more matches.

Strong Nonconference Record: The Beacons finished nonconference play with a 4-2-2 record. This year’s side is the first Valpo team to finish above .500 in nonconference action since the 2017 squad went 6-5-0 outside of Valley play. It is the program’s best nonconference record since going 4-1-4 in 2014. One of those two draws came at a Kentucky side which eventually reached as high as #18 in the nation.

Notable Streaks This Season: This year’s Valpo side had a number of notable streaks that came to an end:
Home Success - Started season 3-0-3 through six home matches before falling to Belmont; second time in program history going unbeaten through first six home matches (2005)
Unbeaten Streak - Seven matches without a loss (2-0-5) Sept. 8-Oct. 5; sixth unbeaten streak of at least seven matches in program history
MVC Play - 11-match unbeaten streak in Valley action (5-0-6) Oct. 6, 2022-Oct. 5, 2023
Strong Defense - 15 consecutive MVC matches surrendering one goal or fewer Sept. 17, 2022-Oct. 5, 2023

Perhaps the most impressive item which was snapped in Valpo’s Oct. 8 loss at Drake was the fact that the Beacons lost a match in which they held a lead. The last time prior to Drake Valpo had the lead in a match and didn’t come away with at least a draw was way back on Sept. 28, 2019 at Missouri State. Valpo had won or tied 34 consecutive matches in which it held a lead before falling to the Bulldogs.

Fit to Be Tied: This season has featured a record number of ties for the Beacons. Valpo drew four times in MVC play and six times overall, both the highest single-season marks in program history. The 2010, 2011 and spring 2021 seasons all featured five deadlocks overall, while the 2003 and spring 2021 squads tied three times in conference action.

Starting Every Time Out: Four players started every match of the regular season for Valpo: goalkeeper Nikki Coryell, center backs Nicole Norfolk and Anna Cup and right back Aubrey Ramey. Coryell and Norfolk both played all 1,620 minutes in the regular season, while Cup nearly did so, ending the regular season with 1,607 minutes played. Norfolk’s streak of consecutive starts came to a close when she missed out on the MVC Tournament first-round match due to injury, leaving Coryell - who has now started 32 straight matches - as the only Valpo player with a consecutive start streak dating beyond this season. Cup missed out for the first time in her career in Sunday’s championship match against Drake due to injury.

Coryell Adds Another Honor: Four clean sheets in as many tournament matches led to an easy call to dub senior goalkeeper Nikki Coryell the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 MVC Tournament. Coryell made 23 saves across the four matches for a flawless 380 minutes of action in goal, in the process tying (against Missouri State) and setting outright (against Drake) the Valley record for shutouts in a career, as she now has 28 career clean sheets.

All-Tournament Accolades: Coryell was one of four Valpo representatives on the MVC Tournament All-Tournament Team. Fifth-year midfielder Allie Anderson played all 380 minutes in the center of the park and contributed the match-winning goal in the title match. Junior Abby White played all 380 minutes of the tournament at left back, helping to keep all four of Valpo’s opponents off the board while also scoring the match-winner in the semifinal. Last but not least, senior Aubrey Ramey - who had played the entire regular season at right back - shifted to center back for three of the four tournament matches and was instrumental in helping the Beacons post shutouts in all four matches.

Norfolk the Stalwart: Fifth-year center back Nicole Norfolk has been a steady presence in the center of the back line since the moment she stepped on campus in the fall of 2019, and was honored this year as a First Team All-MVC recipient. It is the second straight season Norfolk earned First Team accolades and her third All-MVC recognition in all. Norfolk played every minute of the regular season at center back for one of the conference’s top defensive sides, while getting involved in the attack as well with three goals and four assists. She had a night to remember Oct. 19 against UNI, as when the match started, she became Valpo’s all-time leader in both matches played and matches started. Norfolk went on to score the eventual match-winning goal in the 52nd minute and later added an assist on the insurance goal.

Coryell the GOAT: Senior goalkeeper Nikki Coryell picked up Second Team All-MVC honors this season, and combined with her three previous MVC Goalkeeper of the Year awards, became just the fourth player in program history to earn All-Conference accolades four times, joining Lori Moore, Emily King and Jackie Thomas. Playing every minute in goal, Coryell is now the Valley’s all-time leader with 28 career shutouts, nine of which have come this season - fourth-most in a single season in program history and tied for fourth in a season in MVC history. Her current GAA (0.81) and save percentage (.832) would both rank sixth in a single season in program history, while her 89 saves this year are the most in a season by a Valpo goalie since 2002. She enters the NCAA Tournament first in program history in career save percentage (.830), second in career shutouts and third in both career GAA (0.86) and career saves (298).

Holding Down the Midfield: Fifth-year midfielder Allie Anderson earned her second All-MVC award this season, picking up Third Team honors after being a Second Team choice in 2022. A stalwart in the midfield since coming to campus, Anderson has played all 90 minutes in 19 fixtures this year. She has three goals and two assists this season, including match-winning goals versus Eastern Illinois and in the MVC Tournament championship versus Drake.

Scoring the Goals: Junior forward Addy Joiner has picked up MVC postseason awards in back-to-back seasons, as she was a First Team choice last year and a Third Team choice this season. She is likely to lead the Beacons in goals for a second straight season, finding the back of the net eight times this year — tied for ninth-most in a single season in program history and just one off the MVC high. With another full season remaining in her career, Joiner is already tied for sixth in program history with 18 career goals and tied for seventh with 40 career points.

Creating and Scoring: It’s three straight seasons of postseason honors for senior forward Lindsey DuSatko, as she was a Second Team honoree in 2021 and a First Team honoree in 2022 prior to receiving Third Team recognition this year. DuSatko has paced the Beacons and is tied for fourth among all Valley players with five assists this season - tied for fourth in a single season in program history. With 11 career assists, she is tied for fifth all-time at Valpo in that category. She has also scored a quartet of goals, most recently finding the back of the net for the match-winner in the first-round MVC Tournament win over Belmont.

Rookie Right at Home: Freshman center back Anna Cup earned postseason recognition as well, as she was named to the MVC All-Freshman Team. Cup slotted in immediately at center back from the whistle of the very first regular season match, as she started the first 21 matches of the season and played all but 13 minutes prior to missing out due to injury in the MVC Tournament championship match. Cup has helped anchor a defensive unit which boasts a 0.81 GAA and has registered nine shutouts on the season.

Senior Stepping Up: Senior forward Kelsie James was instrumental in Valpo advancing in the early round of the MVC Tournament. It was James’ corner kick early in the first-round match with Belmont which was headed home to give Valpo a lead it would not relinquish, and then it was James on the back end of a set piece against UNI in the second round, scoring to help send the Beacons through to the semifinals. James enters the NCAA Tournament tied for third in program history with 12 career assists and tied for 10th with 38 points.

A Sudden Nose for Goal: Senior Chase Ray went the first 56 minutes of her collegiate career without a goal, but the midfielder found the scoring touch in Valley play, scoring in three of the Beacons’ 10 MVC fixtures. Ray opened her collegiate account with the tying goal at Evansville, scored the early match-winner in the second minute at Indiana State and opened the scoring in Valpo’s win at Southern Illinois.

Looking Back at 2022: Valpo’s journey up the MVC table over the last few years culminated in 2022 with a dramatic final day of the regular season which saw the Beacons emerge with the MVC regular season championship - Valpo’s first team title in any sport since joining the Valley. The Beacons finished the season with an 8-7-4 overall record, including a 7-1-2 mark in MVC action to claim the regular season crown. Nikki Coryell was named MVC Goalkeeper of the Year for a third straight season, while John Marovich, Brianne Barnes and Noah Smith were honored as the Valley Coaching Staff of the Year. Nicole Norfolk was named a Third Team All-Region honoree as well.

Who’s Back: Valpo returned 18 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last year’s squad which claimed the MVC regular season title. The returnees accounted for 16 of the Beacon’s 19 goals and 17 of their 18 assists in Valley play in 2022.