VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's soccer team opened the 2024 season with a 3-0 victory over visiting Middle Georgia on Thursday evening at the VSU Soccer Complex.  Three different Blazers scored in the game with one goal in the first half and two in the second, including a goal from freshman Maria Rojas for her first goal in her first collegiate game.  
 
VSU dominated the match from start to finish as it out shot the Knights 18-2 and held a 12-1 lead in shots on goal, while the Blazers registered nine corner kicks to one for Middle Georgia.  Rojas had four shots – all on target and the one goal, while senior Molly Muenchen scored the first goal sophomore Sarah Hudson had her first collegiate goal in the second half.
 
The Blazers dominated the attack early on and had three good looks with two saves from Middle Georgia (0-3), but in the 12^th minute the Blazers found pay dirt off a set piece as junior Katherine Kimmel centered the corner kick to Muenchen who finished it off for a 1-0 lead 11:32 into the match.
 
VSU continued the pressure through the rest of the half as it finished with ten shots and five on target for the frame with seven corner kicks, while MGA had one shot on target off a free kick for senior Blazer goalkeeper Emma Pruett.  Muenchen finished the half with three shots all on frame as the goal was her third of her career.  
 
Just over six minutes into the second half, the Blazers used a great run down the sideline from senior Molly Wooldridge who crossed it to Rojas, for the 2-0 lead at the 50:40 mark.  The shots kept coming for the Blazers throughout the next twenty minutes as Middle Georgia goalkeeper Hollie Keefe was up to the task with four saves through the first 30 minutes of the final stanza.   
 
Hudson scored her goal with just under ten minutes remaining as sophomore Kaitlyn Scherer flicked a ball to senior Jocelyn Oballe who had a great centering pass to Hudson for the score and a 3-0 lead for the final margin.  
 
The win gave VSU head coach his 199^th victory as a head coach all-time (199-101-20) and his 59^th at VSU (59-46-11).  The Blazers moved to 8-5-1 all-time in season-openers and posted their seventh shutout in a season-opener in program history.  
 
Blazer goalkeeper, senior Emma Pruett, finished with one save in the contest, while Keefe had nine saves for the Knights. 
 
VSU makes its first road trip of the season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at North Greenville in Tigerville, S.C., in the first meeting between the two teams.  Fans can access links to live stats, streaming and more at vstateblazers.com on the women's soccer schedule page.