VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's soccer team is scheduled to open preseason practice on Wednesday morning at 7:15 a.m., at the VSU Athletic Field House. 
 
The Blazers return a strong nucleus from last year's 8-6-4 team that finished 6-5-2 in Gulf South Conference play.  Blazer head coach Stephen Andrew begins his eighth season at the helm of the Blazers as he is 58-46-11 at VSU as the all-time winningest coach in program history.  Andrew is 46-31-7 in GSC play, while he is 198-101-20 all-time in 17 years of coaching at Piedmont College, Huntingdon College and VSU. 
 
Headlining the returners in 2024 are the top eight scorers from a season ago, including the top two in seniors Ana Moleka and Molly Wooldridge.  The duo combined for 14 goals and seven assists in 2023, while they took 71 shots with 42 on target and had four game winners combined.  In addition, the top eight returnees accounted for 29 of the 34 goals scored last season and 18 of 23 assists.  
 
Moleka and Wooldridge each earned GSC All-Second Team honors in 2023 as both paced the team with seven goals each, while Moleka had four assists and Wooldridge had three.  Wooldridge led the team with three game winners, while she had a team-high 45 shots (.156) and 25 on target (.556).  Four different players each had three goals including rising senior Ansley Decenzo (3G, 5A), senior Jocelyn Oballe (3G, 1A), junior Hunter Wallace (3G, 1A) and junior Victoria Bahr (3G).  
 
All three goalkeepers return this season as each saw action in 2023.  Junior Claire Timberlake went 5-4-2 in 12 games played with 11 starts, logging 956:23 minutes and had a 1.13 goals against average, along with a team-high 42 saves.  Rising sophomore Tori Vliet played in seven games with six starts allowing eight goals with a 2-2-1 record, while senior Emma Pruett saw action in three games with one start, going 1-0-1.  
 
With a ton of returning talent for this season, Andrew welcomed a talented group of newcomers including Florida Gulf Coast sophomore Kaitlyn Scherer and Belmont Abbey junior transfers Lydia Lewis and Lindsey Wong.  In addition to the transfers, Andrew welcomes nine freshmen for the 2024 roster.  
 
The season gets underway on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. at the VSU Soccer Complex versus Middle Georgia, beginning a home slate of ten exciting games.  Tickets are on sale now by calling (229) 333-SEAT 7328) to purchase or at the VSU Athletic Ticket Office in the P.E. Complex.  
 
Season passes are $20, while VSU employees are $15 and seniors/youth are $10.  Individual game adult general admission tickets are $5 and youth/senior general admission tickets are $3.
 
Click here for the 2024 Blazer Women's Soccer Schedule.