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Two years ago, the Crusaders gave up two goals in the first 11 minutes before falling 2-1 to Wright State in coach Mike Avery's first season at Valparaiso.

Last year, Lake Central product Eric Gehrig found the back of the net twice within the first 13 minutes as Loyola knocked off Valparaiso 4-1.

After each match, Avery was sincere when he told me that his club would be back to work on the following Monday, to get better for the next season. Following last year's loss to the Ramblers, Avery told me that "the lesson is that maybe we need to play better during the regular season so we can host these games."

In Valparaiso's first two years in the Horizon League, making the conference tournament was a given. Each team played on in the postseason, regardless of regular season finish. The Crusaders were seeded seventh in 2007 and eighth last year. Before the 2009 season began, the Horizon League decided that only six teams would qualify for the conference tournament.

The chance at hosting a conference tournament game became all the more difficult. Instead of the top six teams hosting games, only the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds would host a first round game this season while the No. 1 seed would host the semifinals and finals.

Despite the decreased odds in hosting a game, there I was on Tuesday afternoon, sitting in the press box at Brown Field watching the No. 3 Crusaders taking on No. 6 Milwaukee.

Avery and his squad earned the home game because of a record-breaking season.

For some perspective, the Valparaiso men's soccer program has been in existence since 1983. Entering this season, the Crusaders have had just one winning season (1987 9-6-1) and have won just two conference tournament matches, both in 1996 when the 6-13-3 Crusaders defeated Howard (2-1) and Central Connecticut State (4-2) in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament. 

With 25 years of results stacked against the Crusaders, the squad opened the year with two near-misses that would've easily qualified as some of the biggest wins in school history.

On Sept. 6, the Crusaders carried a 1-0 lead midway through the second half at home against No. 22 Michigan when the Wolverines rattled off two goals in under two minutes.

Two days later, after a long flight, Valparaiso nearly shocked No. 8 South Florida, taking the Bulls to overtime before falling 1-0.

The Crusaders responded with wins in three of the next four matches and only suffered back-to-back losses once more on the way to finishing the regular season 9-6-2 and earning that elusive home conference tournament match.

Much has already been written about the unfortunate altercation between Valparaiso, Milwaukee and a group of fans on Tuesday, but it should not take away from the magnitude of Valparaiso's 4-0 victory.

Coming into the match, the Crusaders had scored two goals six times during the regular season and tallied three goals just one time. The last time Valparaiso scored four goals in a match was on Aug. 27, 2006 in a 5-4 double overtime win to Evansville.

In three short years, Avery has completely revolutionized the Valparaiso program. When the current senior class were freshmen in 2006 (Mis Mrak's final season), the size of the roster was at 20 and there were two coaches. This year, the VUMSO program has 43 players, a head coach, two assistant coaches, a volunteer assistant and a director of soccer operations.

The Crusaders are two matches away from realizing their dream of a conference title and a berth in the NCAA tournament. The next step comes against Green Bay on Friday morning in Indianapolis. Valparaiso already has a 3-2 overtime win over the Phoenix this season. If Avery's squad can advance to the championship match, they'll be facing the winner of Butler/Cleveland State.

Interesting to note is that Loyola, the two-time defending Horizon League tournament champions, didn't even qualify for the tournament, and UIC, which reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament last year, has already been eliminated from the conference tournament.