The Missouri Valley Conference began the 2024 season with Valley women's soccer programs recording a combined 8-4-6 (0.556) record over the weekend. Indiana State, UIC, and Valparaiso all won their lone match to start off the season undefeated.
Team Highlights: Indiana State recorded its second hat-trick in its women's soccer program history and set school single-match records for goals, points, and assists. Valparaiso won its first road season-opener since 2018. The Belmont Bruins earned their first comeback victory since Sept. 22, 2022.
Coaching Milestones: Raleigh DeRose made her coaching debut for Illinois State and earned a victory in her first match. Kirk Nelson earned his 25th win and shutout for the Missouri State Bears in his third season as head coach.
The MVC continues play on Thursday, Aug. 22. Three Valley teams will play "power" teams this weekend with Belmont playing Vanderbilt on Thursday; UIC is at Purdue and Illinois State travels to Illinois on Sunday.
Alexa Mackey helped lead Indiana State to their first win of the 2024 season and Thursday’s win is the first time the Sycamores won the season opener since the 2016 season. Mackey recorded only the second-ever hat trick in program history, scoring all three goals inside the 52-minute mark in the 10-0 win over Saint Mary-of-the-Woods on Thursday evening. The Brunswick, Ohio native was successful on all three of her shots throughout the match when she scored in the 24th, 28th, and 52nd minutes of the game. Mackey is the first to accomplish the feat since Sydney Lovelace scored three against Chicago State in 2014. This also marks the first multi-goal game since Sasha Thompson scored two in 2021 at Northern Iowa.
Sophomore keeper Addie Ford made seven saves in 29 total shots over the Bulldogs' first two matches. She allowed just two goals as Drake started the season 0-1-1 with a season-opening draw at St. Thomas and a narrow loss to Kansas. Ford made four saves amidst 13 total shots from the Jayhawks as Drake got its home slate underway. Her four-save performance vs. Kansas marked the third-straight match dating back to last season in which Ford has made at least three saves.
Watson started both matches and played all 90 minutes as Illinois State beat Green Bay and tied Purdue Fort Wayne. The Redbirds surrendered just one goal, the fewest by any Valley team who played two games in the opening week of the season. Illinois State allowed 14 total shots in the two results, including just 4 shots on goal, a defensive effort that was led by Watson.
Breece played a total of 130 minutes in two matches at Cincinnati and Southeast Missouri, scoring her first two career collegiate goals on Sunday against the Redhawks. Her first goal came in the sixth minute of the match to give Murray State an early 1-0 lead. After SEMO scored the equalizer in the 85th minute, Bass turned back down the field on the kickoff to score her first career game-winner just eight seconds later. In her first two matches she put three of her four shots taken in frame.
Bruins’ Goalkeeper Amanda Waggoner notched her first career win. The redshirt sophomore made a career-high five saves. Reagan Ross and Kaitlyn Elliott scored their first career goals.
Racers’ freshman Breece Bass scored her first two collegiate goals to carry Murray State to its first victory of the season.
Missouri State goalie Camielle Day earned her 20th career shutout for the Bears.
Valpo freshman Ashley Trippeer scored a goal in her first collegiate game for the Beacons.
Isabella Balsley scored her first collegiate goal for the Bulldogs to earn a draw in their season opener.
Evansville goalie Myia Danek started out the season with a shutout in a draw in the Purple Aces’ opening match.
Sammi Cenek and Chloe Cline scored their first career goals to complete the comeback for the Redbirds.
UIC defeated Chicago State 2-0 while holding CSU to 0 shots on goals. Chopper Carriere scored her first collegiate goal for the Flames.
McKensey Bunch provided both goals in the Salukis’ 2-2 draw against Jackson State.
The Sycamores broke a team record for shots on goal with 24, most goals scored in a single match (10), most points in a single match (30), and most assists in a match (10).
Lauren Heinsch's 28th-minute goal was the 21st of her career, moving her into sole possession of second on UNI's all-time list and two away from tying Chelsie Hochstedler's (2007-10) program record of 23.
The 2024 MVC Women’s Soccer Championship will be conducted at sites of the higher seeds, and eight of 11 teams will qualify for the field. The eight-team tournament will be held over two weekends. The 1 and 2 seeds will have byes in the first two rounds. The semifinals and finals (Nov. 7 and Nov. 10, respectively) will take place at the site of the No. 1 seed. The 2023 Regular-Season Champion was Drake, while the 2023 Tournament Champion was Valparaiso. The Beacons lost to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament Opening Round.