There’s a smile on Kiley Dugan’s face as she walks through the Athletics-Recreation Center. Members of the Valparaiso women’s soccer team are shuffling back and forth to a group of passenger vans in the parking lot, loading gear, snacks and pillows for a multi-day adventure into Michigan last week.

After two years of growing pains, grueling protocols and more COVID tests than anyone can remember, Dugan and her teammates are ready to embrace normalcy once again. They’re also ready to embrace their role as the presumptive favorites in the Missouri Valley Conference.