2025 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer tournament

2025 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Teams6
Matches5
Attendance1,330
SiteCampus Sites, hosted by Higher Seed
ChampionsUIC (1st title)
Winning coachDavid Nikolic (1st title)
MVPSara Sanabria (UIC)
BroadcastESPN+
Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer tournament
«2024  2026»
2025 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
Drake  ‍‍‍ 6 2 1   .722 9 6 4   .579
Murray State  ‍‍‍ 5 1 3   .722 10 4 5   .658
Indiana State  ‍‍‍ 4 2 3   .611 8 6 6   .550
Illinois State  ‍‍‍ 4 2 4   .600 8 6 8   .545
Southern Illinois  ‍‍‍ 4 5 1   .450 10 6 3   .605
UIC  ‍‍y 3 3 3   .500 8 8 6   .500
Evansville  ‍‍‍ 3 5 1   .389 7 7 2   .500
Belmont  ‍‍‍ 2 4 3   .389 4 6 7   .441
Valparaiso  ‍‍‍ 2 4 3   .389 5 8 4   .412
UNI  ‍‍‍ 1 6 2   .222 4 9 3   .344
† – Conference champion
‡ – 2025 Missouri Valley Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament
As of December 9, 2025
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll
Source:Missouri Valley Conference

The 2025 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Missouri Valley Conference held from November 2 through November 9, 2025. The tournament was hosted at campus sites, with the higher seed hosting each game. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The defending champions were the Missouri State Bears, who were unsuccessful in defending their crown as they moved to CUSA during the offseason.[1][2][3] The sixth-seeded UIC Flames would go on to win the tournament in a penalty shoot-out over Illinois State.[4][5] The conference tournament title was the first for the UIC women's soccer program, and first Missouri Valley title for head coach David Nikolic.[6] As tournament champions, UIC earned the Missouri Valley's automatic berth into the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament.

Seeding

The top six of the ten Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer programs qualified for the 2025 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on their regular season records. A tiebreaker was required to determine the fourth and fifth seeds as Illinois State and Southern Illinois both finished with thirteen regular season conference points. Illinois State earned the fourth seed by virtue of their 2–0 home win over Southern Illinois on September 28 during the regular season.[7]

Seed School Conference Record Points
1 Drake 6–2–1 19
2 Murray State 5–1–3 18
3 Indiana State 4–2–3 15
4 Illinois State 3–2–4 13
5 Southern Illinois 4–4–1
6 UIC 3–3–3 12

Bracket

Source:[8]

Quarterfinals
Sunday, Nov. 2
Semifinals
Thursday, Nov. 6
Final
Sunday, Nov. 9
1 Drake 0
4 Illinois State (a.e.t.) 2 4 Illinois State 1
5 Southern Illinois 1 4 Illinois State 0 (1)
6 UIC (pen.) 0 (2)
2 Murray State 1 (3)
3 Indiana State 1 6 UIC (pen.) 1 (4)
6 UIC 2

Schedule

Quarterfinals

November 2 (3) Indiana State1–2 (6) UIC Terre Haute, IN
12:00 p.m. CST
  • Tori Angelo 54'
Report
  • 64' Katelyn Nardulli
  • 69' Hannah Gryzik
  •  90' Julia Thomson
Stadium: Memorial Stadium
Attendance: 276
November 2 (4) Illinois State 2–1 (a.e.t.)(5) Southern IllinoisNormal, IL
1:00 p.m. CST
  • Chloe Cline 59',  69', 93'
Report
  • 35' Sophia Schlicklin
  •  59' Lily Murray
  •  69' Team
Stadium: Adelaide Street Field
Attendance: 315

Semifinals

November 6 (2) Murray State1–1 (a.e.t.)
(3–4 p)
(6) UIC Murray, KY
1:00 p.m. CST
  • Mary Hardy 31'
  • Kate Donoghue  86'
Report
  • 86' (pen.) Kaysey Castro
Stadium: Cutchin Field
Attendance: 397
Referee: Eulogio Villalpando
Assistant referees: Adam Herges
Assistant referees: Lucas Cross
Fourth official: Mandy Love
Penalties
  • Mary Hardy
  • Ava Wilson
  • Breece Bass
  • Megan Wilson
  • Kate Donoghue
  • Sami Wilson
  • Hannah Gryzik
  • Camryn Ries
  • Kaysey Castro
  • Sophia Jaime
  • Addison Carriere
  • Katelyn Nardulli
November 6 (1) Drake0–1 (4) Illinois State Des Moines, IA
3:00 p.m. CST
  • Layla Kelbel  61'
  • Team  72'
Report
  • 85' (pen.) Abby Hall
Stadium: Mediacom Stadium
Attendance: 342
Referee: Eulogio Villalpando
Assistant referees: Sean Giza
Assistant referees: Vasilios Vouris
Fourth official: Christian Vouris

Final

November 9 (4) Illinois State0–0 (a.e.t.)
(1–2 p)
(6) UIC Normal, IL
1:00 p.m. CST
  • Abby Hall  104'
Report Stadium: Adelaide Street Field
Referee: Nikola Aleksic
Assistant referees: Adrian Werbicki
Assistant referees: Shane Richards
Fourth official: Michele Waldbeesser
Penalties
  • Eve Gricius
  • Elyse Deschryver
  • Abby Hall
  • Madi Valenti
  • Jade Rehberger
  • Hannah Gryzik
  • Sophia Jaime
  • Kaysey Castro
  • Camryn Ries

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 9 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 1.8 goals per match (as of November 9, 2025).

2 goals

  • Chloe Cline – Illinois State

1 goal

  • Abby Hall – Illinois State
  • Tori Angelo – Indiana State
  • Mary Hardy – Murray State
  • Sophia Schlicklin – Southern Illinois
  • Kaysey Castro – UIC
  • Hannah Gryzik – UIC
  • Katelyn Nardulli – UIC

All-Tournament team

Source:[9]

Player Team
Mika Marolly Drake
Madelyn Smith
Chloe Cline Illinois State
Abby Hall
Madi Valenti
Tori Angelo Indiana State
Sydney Etter Murray State
Natalie Miller
Olivia Anderson Southern Illinois
Kasey Castro UIC
Hannah Gryzik
Katelyn Nardulli
Sara Sanabria

MVP in bold

References

  1. ^ "CUSA Adds Missouri State" (Press release). Conference USA. May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  2. ^ "2024 MVC Women's Soccer Championship". Missouri Valley Conference. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  3. ^ Chiles, Mary Ellen (November 10, 2024). "Ticket punched: O'Keefe powers Missouri State to Valley Tournament title". sgfcitizen.org. Springfield Daily Citizen. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  4. ^ "2025 MVC Women's Soccer Championship". Missouri Valley Conference. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  5. ^ "A season to remember for UIC soccer programs". today.uic.edu. University of Illinois Chicago. November 17, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  6. ^ "2025 Missouri Valley Conference Record Book" (PDF). Missouri Valley Conference. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  7. ^ "Drake Claims MVC Regular Season Women's Soccer Title". mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. October 30, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  8. ^ "2025 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer championship" (PDF). mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. November 9, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  9. ^ "UIC Flames Make History, Advance to NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament". mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. November 9, 2025. Retrieved December 26, 2025.