VALDOSTA, Ga. – Each Monday throughout the season, Valdosta State Athletics will post a weekly preview of all of the events, both home and away, times, dates, links to live stats and streaming, and important information for the week for each in-season sport.  Check back each Monday for this new and exciting feature on www.vstateblazers.com.
 
For football, soccer and volleyball, this is the first fall competition for each sport since 2019, while the men's and women's cross country teams competed in abbreviated fall season in 2020.  
 
The Blazer men's golf team also competed in two tournaments in the fall of 2020 and is scheduled to play a full slate of fall tournaments this season, beginning later in September and a home tournament in October for the 2022 NCAA South/Southeast Regional Preview at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.
 
 
Blazer Athletic COVID-19 Policy Links
 
2021-22 Valdosta State Athletics COVID-19 Policies
 
Social Distancing Sections at home VSU athletic venues
 
 
Blazer Athletic Events (September 2-5)
 
Women's Soccer – The Valdosta State women's soccer team begins the 2021 season at Clayton State on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 2:30 p.m.  Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the match at vstateblazers.com on the women's soccer schedule page.
 
Live Stats
 
Video Streaming
 
The Blazers, who finished the 2021 spring season 3-2-2 overall and 3-0-1 un GSC Group B, qualified for the GSC Spring Championship Series in the spring, return a strong nucleus of talent, including graduate defender Lexie Hall and sophomore forward Rachael Howard.  Both Hall and Howard were named to the Preseason All-GSC Team, while the Blazers were picked sixth in the preseason GSC poll.  
 
Along with the returning players from the spring, the Blazers also have a talented crop of newcomers, including freshman defender Molly Muenchen and sophomore Wright State transfer midfielder Kaley Mincey.  
 
Head coach Stephen Andrew begins his fifth season at VSU and the Blazers are set to begin their 11^th season of soccer.  Andrew is 36-22-5 at VSU as the winningest coach in program history.  He has guided VSU to four-straight conference tournament appearances.  
 
VSU is 2-3 all-time against Clayton State as CSU won the last meeting 2-1 in Valdosta in 2019.  The Blazers are 0-2 in Morrow, Ga., with losses in 2016 and 2018.  Both VSU and CSU each have scored seven goals in the series.
 
The Lakers were selected seventh of ten teams in the Peach Belt Conference Preseason Poll as Clayton State went 3-3 in the spring in six league matches.  Fergal Forde leads the Lakers in his sixth season with a 31-33-8 record at the school.  Forde is 3-1 against VSU since being the interim head coach of the Lakers in 2016.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com on Wednesday for a complete preview of the Clayton State match.
 
 
Volleyball – The Blazer volleyball team begins the 2021 season at the Flagler Invitational, Sept. 3-4 in Saint Augustine, Fla.  The Blazers will open the season at 11 a.m. on Friday versus Eckerd and also face Belmont Abbey on Friday at 5 p.m.  Saturday's first match is against the host Flagler Saints at 1 p.m., followed by a matchup with Lewis University (Ill.) at 5 p.m.  
 
Live Stats
 
Video Streaming
 
VSU opens the 2021 home slate at The Complex on Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. versus Edward Waters University.  The Blazers then host the VSU Fall Tournament at The Complex on Sept. 10-11.  
 
Head coach Kaleigh Zoucha returns for her fourth season at the helm of the Blazers.  VSU was selected ninth in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll earlier in August. A total of 13 players return from the spring for the Blazers, while Zoucha added the services of four talented newcomers, including Lander University graduate transfer Deona Mims. 
 
 
Blazer Cross Country – The Blazer cross country teams open the 2021 season with the return of the VSU Border Clash, Friday evening at 6:20 p.m. (women's, 5K) and 6:55 p.m. (men's, 7.25K) at Freedom Park in Valdosta.  The VSU Border Clash is free to attend.
 
The Border Clash features talented teams from both Georgia and Florida and awards will be given to the top ten finishers and the top two overall teams in both the men's and women's races.  For the Border Clash awards, the top five finishers from Florida schools will be compared to the top five finishers from Georgia schools and the best score determines the state winner for each gender.  
 
Both the Blazer men's and women's cross country teams were selected sixth in the GSC Preseason Coaches polls.  For the Blazer women's team, senior Angie Cipriani looks to continue to play an enormous role on the team this season. The Thomasville, Ga. native, was named VSU's Most Valuable Runner in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Cipriani also earned All-GSC Honors in 2019, finishing 11^th at the conference championship and finishing 8^th in the 2020 season. Along with earning all-region honors and finishing 17^th at regionals, Cipriani will be a considerable asset in 2021.  
 
On the men's side, junior Brishen House has had a phenomenal career at Valdosta State as he became the first Blazer cross country student-athlete to earn GSC Top Ten honors in 2021. The Valdosta, Ga., native won the 2020 Julius Johnson 8K Invitational/Mercer 8K and finished 16^th at the GSC Championship in 2020. House was named VSU Most Valuable Runner in 2019, earned Steel's Jewelry Blazer Athlete of the Week honors twice in 2019 and four times in 2020, and has continued to set personal records throughout his career.
 
Head coach Todd Smoot begins his seventh season at the helm of the program and has continued to elevate the Blazer cross country programs over his tenure.  Smoot has coached 17 all-GSC honorees, eight all-region selections and three GSC All-Decade honorees. 
 
Live Scoring (Should be updated later this week)
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com on Thursday for a complete preview of the VSU Border Clash.
 
 
Football – For the first time in 644 days, the Valdosta State football team is scheduled to play a meaningful football game.  The No. 6-ranked Blazers open the highly anticipated 2021 season with in-state foe Savannah State Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.  
 
Live Stats
 
Watch the game on FloSports
 
Live Audio (Talk 92.1 WDDQ FM)
 
Purchase FloSports
 
Blazer Football Game Day
 
VSU has not played a countable football game since Nov. 30, 2019, in a heartbreaking 38-35 loss to 2019 eventual national champion West Florida in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Division II playoffs.  
 
Head coach Gary Goff begins his third season in Titletown and comes off a 10-1 record in 2019 and a perfect 8-0 mark in GSC play winning the program's second-straight Gulf South Conference title.  VSU didn't compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  
 
Below are a few brief highlights of the weekly game notes for the Blazers which will be released later this week.  Also check back with vstateblazers.com for the Game Day Page for links to tailgating, Blazer Walk, ticket information and more.  
 
FLOSPORTS
The Gulf South Conference signed a league-wide, four-year agreement with FloSports to broadcast all GSC football games beginning this fall.  With this new GSC package, all VSU football livestream broadcasts will be available exclusively through FloSports. Fans can purchase a monthly membership for $19.99 or an annual subscription for $150 ($12.50/month).  The yearly membership is a saving of nearly $90.  Subscribe to FloSports at www.flosports.tv/gulfsouth.  The membership will include:

 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long with Spencer Van Horn and Wade Beale having the call of the games this season.  Fans also can access the broadcast at www.talk921.com.  This season with the addition of FloSports, Dave Garner will provide play-by-play coverage on the video broadcast of the home games for FloSports, while Will Cooper will be the color analyst.  
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH SAVANNAH STATE
This marks the first time the two teams have met on the gridiron since 1996.  VSU leads the series 5-0 and is 3-0 in Valdosta and 2-0 in Savannah.  The Blazers won the last meeting, 21-7 on Sept. 14, 1996, in Valdosta.  VSU has outscored SSU 119-46 in the five meetings.  Current VSU head coach was a student-athlete on the football team for the Blazers when the teams met last in 1996.  This game was supposed to kickoff the 2020 season, but was cancelled due to the Pandemic.  
 
VSU TIED FOR SIXTH IN PRESEASON AFCA TOP 25
Coming off the 10-1 record and back-to-back Gulf South Conference titles, the Blazers were tied for sixth in the AFCA Preseason Top 25 released earlier in August.  Defending national champion West Florida was tabbed the favorite, followed by Minnesota State, Ferris State, Northwest Missouri State and Slippery Rock rounded out the top five.  VSU and Lenoir-Rhyne were tied for sixth.  UWF, LC and VSU all are in Super Region Two and in the top ten of the poll.  Bowie State (Md.) is 18th, while Carson-Newman (Tenn.) and Wingate (N.C.) are tied for 24th.  Among others receiving votes from Super Region Two are Fort Valley State, who is the first team just outside the top 25, along with Delta State, West Alabama, Miles, Virginia Union and West Georgia.  On Monday, August 30, the D2Football.com Top 25 poll was released and the Blazers were sixth in that poll.
 
EIGHT BLAZERS EARN PRESEASON ALL-GSC ACCOLADES; PICKED SECOND IN GSC POLL
The Blazers were picked second in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll, released in early August.  UWF was held a slim margin over VSU with a 47-45 lead in total points and a 5-3 lead in first-place votes.  Delta State was selected third in the poll, followed by West Alabama and West Georgia rounded out the top five.  Mississippi College was picked sixth, followed by North Greenville and Shorter was eighth.  VSU had the second-most selections to the preseason all-conference team with eight.  The Blazers had five players named on the offense and three on defense.  Junior running back duo Jamar Thompkins and Seth McGill were named to the team, while senior wide receivers Brian Saunds and Lio'undre Gallimore each earned a spot, along with senior offensive lineman Ralph Singleton.  On defense, senior defensive lineman Ja'Davien Williams, alongwith senior linebacker Nick Moss and senior defensive back Cory Roberts each were honored.  Saunds also was named return specialist for special teams.
 
LOOKING AT SAVANNAH STATE
The Tigers enter the season with a lot of talent returning on both sides of the ball as the team played two games in 2020, losing a close game in Mobile, Ala., versus West Alabama (36-28) and defeated Middle Georgia State in Savannah, 85-0.  In 2019, the Tigers went 7-3 and 5-0 in the SIAC.  The Tigers are under the direction of third-year head coach Shawn Quinn who is 8-4 in two seasons there.  SSU returns 63 total letterwinners, including 32 on defense and 31 on offense.  SSU returned to NCAA Division II in 2019 after leaving the division in 1999.  SSU's 5-0 record was its best since 1998, but it was unable to compete in the SIAC Championship due to its move to D2 from D1.  SSU was tabbed league-favorite in 2021 in the SIAC East Division Preseason Poll, while D'Angelo Durham was named Preseason SIAC Offensive Player of the Year.  Durham tallied 1,029 rushing yards on 192 attempts for second in the league in rushing yards and led the SIAC in touchdowns with 12 in 2019.  As a team, the Tigers tallied a new school-record for rushing yards in 2019 (2,603).  Savannah State finished second in the league in scoring offense and was second in rushing offense.  The Tigers were 12th nationally in rushing offense.  SSU had four players earn preseason first team all-league honors, while having four more named to the second team, including Durham.  DL Cam Brown was named to the 2021 Black College Football Hall of Fame Watch List.  Brown helped lead SSU to the top rushing defense in the SIAC and the top scoring defense in 2019.  SSU also was the No. 19 rushing defense nationally that season.