VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's soccer team closes the 2024 regular season on Wednesday at 10 a.m. versus Lee University at the VSU Soccer Complex in a makeup game from Hurricane Helene.  The teams then will turn around and play in the No. 4/5 matchup on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Cleveland, Tenn., in the quarterfinal round of the GSC Championship.  
 
The Blazers, who have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last few weeks, enter with an 8-6-2 record overall and a 5-4-2 mark in GSC play.  Since a 3-0 loss at West Florida on Oct. 11, the Blazers have gone 5-1-1 over their last seven matches and earned the No. 5-seed in the Gulf South Conference Championship.  Lee enters Wednesday's match with a 6-4-5 record overall and a 6-2-3 mark in league play.  
 
The Flames earned the No. 4-seed in the conference tournament and will host No. 5-seed VSU on Sunday in the conference tournament.  Both Wednesday match and Sunday's will be broadcast on FloFC and fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazers.com on the women's soccer schedule page.
 
VSU is coming off a 1-0-1 weekend in Mississippi as the Blazers won their first game in program history in a 2-0 win over Mississippi College last Friday.  VSU had been 0-9-1 all-time against the Choctaws prior.  In that match, VSU used a pair of goals in the second half, one from freshman Maria Rojas and the other from senior Jocelyn Oballe in a span of just under ten minutes for the win as junior goalkeeper Claire Timberlake posted the clean sheet with four saves.  On Sunday, Delta State scored an early goal just 11:23 into the contest, but Oballe came back with the equalizer 35 minutes in as the teams played to a scoreless second half. Rojas earned her second GSC Freshman of the Week honor, while Timberlake earned her first Goalkeeper of the Week accolade.
 
Blazer head coach Stephen Andrew is 66-52-13 (.553) at VSU in his eighth season of coaching, while he is 206-107-22 (.648) all-time in his 18^th season of coaching.  Andrew is 51-35-9 in GSC play over his time coaching the red and black.  For the Blazers, this marks the 11^th time qualifying for the conference tournament since the program's inception in 2011.  VSU has one conference tournament title (2014) and has played in the finals twice (2011).  VSU will be looking for its first GSC postseason victory on Sunday since 2014 (0-6-1).  
 
VSU is 0-2 all-time in the GSC Championship against Lee as they met in 2017 in the semifinals and then again in 2019 in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in the quarterfinals in double overtime.  
 
This season, the Blazers are led by junior Katherine Kimmel who has a team-high 12 points on three goals and a team-high six assists.  She has nine shots with six on target and is 3 for 3 in penalty kicks.  Rojas is second in scoring with ten points on a team-high five goals.  She is third on the team in shots with 21, while her 14 shots on goal are tied for tops on the team.  She has one game winner and is 1 for 1 in penalty kicks.  Senior Molly Wooldridge is third in scoring with nine points on three goals and three assists.  She has a team-high 24 shots and has ten on target.  Kimmel's six assists are second in the GSC and 44^th nationally. 
 
In goal, Timberlake is 5-3-2 on the year with three shutouts and one combined shutout in 11 matches with 12 starts.  She has logged 860:34 minutes with 13 goals allowed and a 1.36 GAA as she has 46 saves for the season.  Senior Emma Pruett has logged 572:20 minutes in eight games with six starts, allowing nine goals for a 1.42 GAA and 22 saves.  She is 3-3 on the year with two shutouts and two combined shutouts.  
 
Lee is led by Grace Berry with five goals and one assist for 11 points.  She has 20 shots for third on the team and nine on target with two game winners.  Three different players are tied with five points on two goals and one assist.  Jordan Blair leads the team with 21 shots and 11 on target.  In goal, Abby Whitcomb has logged all 1,350 minutes, allowing 14 goals (0.93 GAA) with 58 saves and a 6-4-5 record with six shutouts.  
 
The Flames lead the all-time series with VSU, 10-2-1.  The Blazers have dropped the last three matches in the series and are 0-4-1 over the last five meetings in the series.  VSU's last win against the Flames came on Nov. 7, 2019, in a 2-0 win in Valdosta.