Sophomore April Cronin (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) scored the only goal the Valparaiso women’s soccer team would need in the 22^nd minute, and freshman Vanesa Abad (Barrington, Ill./Lake Zurich [Ohio State]) punched home a rebound in the 73^rd minute for an insurance tally as the top-seeded Crusaders downed fourth-seeded Green Bay in the semifinal of the Horizon League Championship Thursday night at Brown Field, 2-0.  With the win, Valpo advances to take on second-seeded Detroit in the title game Saturday evening at 7 p.m.

The victory not only advances the Crusaders to the championship match for just the second time since joining the Horizon League, it also set a number of new marks.  The win was Valpo’s 13^th victory this season, a new single-season program record.  It extended the Crusaders’ winning streak to 11 consecutive matches and their unbeaten streak to 17 straight matches, both already program records.  The shutout was the team’s 11^th clean sheet of the season, matching the program’s single-season mark set in 2012, while redshirt sophomore Sydney Galvez-Daley (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick [Creighton]) set a new individual mark as she has been in goal for all 11 shutouts.

“I thought we handled ourselves tonight very well and I was really pleased with our performance,” said Crusader head coach John Marovich.  “I thought some of the ideas we had tonight were really big time – we had some really innovative stuff going on.  It was unfortunate we were offside so many times, but you can’t be upset when it comes from ideas that were that good.”

Valpo’s two First Team All-League selections teamed up for the match-winning goal midway through the first half following a long stretch of domination from the Crusaders.  Junior Rita Craven (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) took the ball in the midfield and sent a long lead pass down the left-hand side.  Cronin, who started off a few yards behind the Green Bay back, sprinted past the defender to run onto the ball.  It then turned into a superb effort from the sophomore, as Cronin took the ball herself from the sideline all the way across to the top of the box, where she struck it inside the right post, beating Green Bay goalkeeper Nastacia Behle to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

The Crusaders limited the Green Bay attack all night long, holding the Phoenix to just four shots over the 90 minutes to keep them off the scoreboard.  Valpo would then get a key insurance goal with less than 18 minutes to play off a set piece from a corner kick taken by senior Kaylee Draper (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg [Bowling Green]).  The effort found the head of redshirt sophomore Shelby Oelschlager (Glendale, Ariz./Mountain Ridge), who headed it on goal from eight yards out.  The shot was saved by Behle, but Abad was there to clean up the rebound and finish to make it 2-0 Crusaders.

“I thought that tonight, Vanesa Abad had her best game in a Crusader uniform,” said Marovich.  “Her energy level was high and she was really creative coming forward.  It was appropriate that she scored the goal that she did because I thought she had some really good work, and for her to convert that look was awesome.”

Valpo finished the night with a17-4 shot edge over the Phoenix, placing seven of its attempts on goal.  Behle made four saves in the losing effort for Green Bay (11-7-2), while Galvez-Daley stopped three shots, all from distance, to preserve the clean sheet for the Crusaders.

“Certainly when you hold as good an offensive team as Green Bay is to four shots, you feel really good about what you did defensively,” said Marovich.  “It starts from the forwards all the way back.  Our back five were very good – Sydney handled her responsibilities well and Shelby did a good job in organizing the back four.  Then the rest of the backs and our midfielders all had a hand in it – all of them were really smart with their individual defensive assignments, not letting kids turn.  We really wanted to win the ball centrally in the middle tonight to limit Green Bay’s opportunities to press our back line, and we did that.”

Valparaiso (13-1-4) finds itself 90 minutes from the Horizon League title and a berth in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, and will face off against Detroit Saturday night at Brown Field for the title opportunity.  Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m., with the live broadcast of the game available on the Horizon League Network and on ESPN3.com.  WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) will also be carrying a live audio broadcast, with links for live video, audio and stats available at ValpoAthletics.com.

“We executed our plan very well tonight, and hats off to our players for playing well,” said Marovich.  “As they know, our work is not done.  So we have to get ourselves re-focused on the task at hand and bring this performance, if not a better one, on Saturday night.”