O'Rear ready to bounce back following injury-plagued season

SOC: Fully recovered from offseason surgery, O'Rear anchors young group of Valparaiso midfielders

Molly O’Rear had a secret.

Coming off a stellar rookie season in 2022 where O’Rear earned Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman honors, much was expected from the diminutive midfielder last year.

The Naperville native burst on the scene as a freshman with four goals and two assists, earning 15 starts for the Valley regular-season champs. She took 51 shots as freshman with 25 of them on frame. She ranked second in Valley-only competition with 15 shots on goal and third with four goals.

Instead of those numbers growing as a sophomore, they shrank. O’Rear didn’t score a goal in 2023 and tallied just one assist. Her shots plummeted to 18 attempts on the season and only seven of them were on frame.

Despite the dip in numbers, O’Rear’s sophomore season will be memorable for a major reason that few in the program knew anything about until a fateful day in mid-September.

Molly O’Rear had a secret.