"We played well," IUPUI head coach Chris Johnson said. "We played hard and we're doing all the things it takes to win games, the ball's just not bouncing our way right now.

"After the game there, I talked to them about having to keep our heads up and keep going out there and fighting."

The visiting Crusaders got the eventual game-winner in the 56th minute when Emily King headed a Dana McGlone corner kick to the far post past IUPUI goalkeeper Jessie Mann (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove). McGlone drove the ball into the middle of the six-yard box and King elevated over her mark for her fourth score of the season.

The guests extended the lead to 2-0 in the 65th minute when Lori Johnson blasted a shot from 16 yards out past Mann off a feed from Kendall Brown.

Offensively, IUPUI ran into some tough luck throughout the night.

Late in the first half, Samantha Sliney (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) slid a pass to a sprinting Stacy Downing (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), who her shot blocked by a sliding defender from 10 yards out.

Early in the second half, Angie Pilat (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) worked her magic before bending a ball along the end line that a VU defender had to play off the back line.

Senior Joan Vidimos (Chesterton, Ind./Andrean) narrowly missed her first career goal when she ripped a one-touch shot from just inside the box. The ball rocketed just high of the crossbar in the 62nd minute.

IUPUI's final near miss of the night came in the 71st minute when J.J. King (Mason, Ohio/Mason) lofted a shot from 25 yards out that glanced off the crossbar, just out of the reach of VU goalkeeper Erin Murray.

Murray needed just one save for her fourth shutout of the season. On the other end, Mann made three defensive stops.

For the match, IUPUI outshot the Crusaders 13-11 including 9-6 in the second half.

"We worked a lot this week on trying to find our outside mids with the ball," Johnson said. "It worked well - we really stuck to our game plan.

"In the run of play, they didn't score a goal. One came off a corner kick and the other was where they were just quicker to the ball than we were."

The loss was the third straight match IUPUI was blanked, all of which occurred on the home turf. The Jags slipped to 2-8-2 overall. Valparaiso improved to 8-5-1 overall and 4-0 in league play.

IUPUI returns to action on Sunday when they travel to Oakland. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m..

"We need to keep our confidence up. I told them we need to score to win, and it's going to happen. The ball hasn't bounced our way yet."