The Valparaiso University women’s soccer team will play 10 home matches during the 2018 season, as the program released its schedule for the upcoming campaign this afternoon.

After playing a pair of exhibition road games during training camp, the Crusaders will kick off the season with two more road contests, traveling to Green Bay (Aug. 17) and Eastern Illinois (Aug. 19) before opening the home slate in style with a four-game homestand.

The four-match set at Brown Field features appearances from both MAC Tournament finalists from last year – Toledo, which won 12 matches and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, on Aug. 24 and Bowling Green, a 13-win team a season ago, on Aug. 31. The stretch of home games also brings Purdue Fort Wayne (Aug. 26) and Robert Morris [Pa.] (Sept. 2) to town.

The pre-conference schedule wraps up over the next two weekends, as the Crusaders make a weekend road swing to Middle Tennessee State (Sept. 7) and Belmont (Sept. 9). Valpo’s final match before the start of conference play sees the Crusaders travel down I-65 to reigning Horizon League Tournament champions IUPUI (Sept. 16). Valpo also will host UIC (Oct. 3) in a non-conference matchup during the midst of MVC play.

The challenging seven-match MVC schedule starts off on Sept. 23 as the Crusaders host reigning regular season champion Drake in the conference opener. Valpo will also host last season’s tournament champion, Missouri State, on Oct. 13 and Loyola on Oct. 17 before closing the regular season by hosting Indiana State on Oct. 25. During Valley play, the Crusaders will make road trips to Evansville (Sept. 29), Illinois State (Oct. 7) and UNI (Oct. 20).

The MVC Tournament will start on Oct. 28 with first-round matches on campus sites before moving to Loyola for the semifinals and final on Nov. 2 and 4, respectively.