Women’s Soccer 2023

VULB#62 · November 11, 2023, 08:42:18 PM

We are gonna miss Nikki big time next season, but two great seasons in a row (one regular season championship and an MVC tourney win that sent us to the dance) have got to juice up the recruiting talent level.

This is the reality. IMO. Valpo can actually compete for female talent better than it can for male athletes.

Why? Easy. DI males have delusions of professional careers (basketball, baseball are prime examples). They are easily seduced by grandure. For women, that is not always the case. These women want the highest level of competition they can achieve, of course, but the prospect of a professional career is seldom, if ever, a consideration. It's about the journey. And what a beautiful journey it is at a small university like Valpo where everyone is family, yet they play on a pretty bigtime stage. In a sport like soccer, the NWSL and the USWNT pools have already been established when players are 16 and 17, so, if one. Is not in that pool, now it's play for joy and personal challenge (and also get a great education).

So, why not come to Valpo, a close-knit, welcoming, beautiful and comfortable campus, play against DI competition for four years and walk away with a degree that means something.

I'm sure Volleyball and Tennis use a similar strategy. Softball and WBB need to leverage it as well. NCAA rules favor women's sports. Unlike Football and MBB, the cash outlay is nowhere as great. VU may want to be a player at the national level in men's sports, but it may actually be be easier on the women's side.

VULB#62 · November 11, 2023, 10:12:24 PM

Just looked at the box score: Shots comparison. ND 33 (11 on net). VU 1 ( 0 on net). Nikki must still be shell shocked. I didn't see the game, but I'll bet Valpo played a very compact D and had few counter opportunities.

vu84v2 · November 12, 2023, 09:17:56 AM

Quote from: VULB#62 on November 11, 2023, 10:12:24 PM
Just looked at the box score: Shots comparison. ND 33 (11 on net). VU 1 ( 0 on net). Nikki must still be shell shocked. I didn't see the game, but I'll bet Valpo played a very compact D and had few counter opportunities.

Yes, it is likely that Valpo "parked the bus" against Notre Dame.

covufan · November 12, 2023, 11:26:52 AM

TVB and PO

https://www.thevictorybell.com/p/column-what-ill-remember-about-the?r=18qvty&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

historyman · November 12, 2023, 07:33:51 PM

Quote from: VULB#62 on November 11, 2023, 08:42:18 PMSo, why not come to Valpo, a close-knit, welcoming, beautiful and comfortable campus, play against DI competition for four years and walk away with a degree that means something.

Honest answer, with all things being equal among athletic programs, the dorms in general are not modern enough although most of the student/athletes are housed in Beacon Hall which is the most modern of Valpo dorms.

valpotx · November 13, 2023, 02:45:30 AM

Yes, we did play with quite a few players in our own end for much of the game, and had a few counterattack opportunities, but Nikki wasn't challenged a ton as you would think from the 30+ shots. She made some high quality/tough saves and had great positioning on a lot of softer shots, but most of ND's shots were from 20-25 yards out. They couldn't get past our stellar team defense once they got close to our box, short of the set piece opportunities.

Great season, ladies!

FWalum · November 13, 2023, 02:55:12 PM

I watched the match and the one thing that really stood out to me was the physical difference between the two teams. ND players for the most part were physically larger and in some cases faster than our team. Our girls played their guts out and did a great job of sticking to form on defense. I think that ND got frustrated with their lack of production in the first half. Our girls really represented VU well, let's hope they get a recruiting bump from their performance over the last two years!

VULB#62 · December 20, 2023, 05:10:18 PM

Big blow to WSO next season. But Nikki deserves to give it a shot. Best of luck young lady!

https://twitter.com/UKWomensSoccer/status/1737410673598927047

vu72 · December 21, 2023, 09:05:34 AM

It's her COVID year and no one was sure if she would return in any event. John has some very good candidates for replacement and, as Charles de Gaulle once said, "The cemeteries are full of irreplaceable people"!

Here is a partial bio on a recently signed player:

Hailey Wade – GK – Fishers, Ind. – Hamilton Southeastern H.S. – Indiana Fire Juniors

Wade comes to Valpo after being named Indiana Player of the Year following her senior season. A two-time First Team All-State and All-District honoree, Wade is on the watch list for the 2023 High School All-American Game. She surrendered just 10 goals in the last two seasons for Hamilton Southeastern while recording 19 clean sheets in that span.

valpotx · December 21, 2023, 02:28:07 PM

Their announcement doesn't include her stats from this season, as she had 23 more starts. Regardless, she did her time at Valpo over 4 full seasons, so I don't fault her for trying the SEC. I'm with a poster on another thread when I say that I think that the NCAA gave that extra COVID year to everyone a bit too soon. Many people played 4 full seasons, and it makes no sense. As much as we appreciate Nikki for her stellar play at Valpo, it doesn't really make sense that she has a full 5th year to use. The NCAA should have made it more conditional on actual games played during the COVID year.

IndyValpo · December 21, 2023, 02:48:39 PM

Quote from: valpotx on December 21, 2023, 02:28:07 PM
Their announcement doesn't include her stats from this season, as she had 23 more starts. Regardless, she did her time at Valpo over 4 full seasons, so I don't fault her for trying the SEC. I'm with a poster on another thread when I say that I think that the NCAA gave that extra COVID year to everyone a bit too soon. Many people played 4 full seasons, and it makes no sense. As much as we appreciate Nikki for her stellar play at Valpo, it doesn't really make sense that she has a full 5th year to use. The NCAA should have made it more conditional on actual games played during the COVID year.

Completely agree the COVID year while well meaning has had the unintended results of penalizing those who came after. Thankfully this is the last year. Having said that hopefully she does well.

VULB#62 · January 14, 2024, 04:23:43 PM

Ya gotta view this!

It's a master class in how to put together a video that will blow recruits away.

https://youtu.be/rp-dKnIuRuE?si=jh37wRMmi0vrcU7y

valporun · February 04, 2024, 01:36:06 PM

The COVID year rule was most likely originally intended for Football and both levels of basketball, while the rest of the sports were intentionally left out. I'm guessing more of the Olympic sports pitched a fit because of how many players OPTED OUT during that year, so they had to change the rule, especially as most all of D-II and D-III didn't play any sports during the worst of the pandemic.

Best of luck to Nikki in 2024.