BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Valdosta State women's soccer team learned Thursday that it was picked sixth in the 2025 Preseason Gulf South Conference Coaches Poll, while sophomore midfielder Maria Rojas and senior defender Katherine Kimmel were named to the preseason all-league team.
 
Defending league champion West Florida was selected as the favorite for 2025, garnering 144 points and 12 of the 13 first-place votes.  Montevallo was picked second with 132 points and the remaining first-place nod, while Lee was picked third with 122 points.  
 
Union was picked fourth with 104 points, followed by Mississippi College (101) and Valdosta State was sixth with 94 points.  Delta State checked in at seventh (67), followed by UAH (63), Trevecca Nazarene (52) and Spring Hill rounded out the top ten with 51 points.  West Alabama was 11^th in the poll with 43 points, followed by Auburn Montgomery (27) and Christian Brothers was 13^th with 14 points.  
 

Rojas, a native of Orlando, Fla., enters her sophomore campaign as the reigning GSC Freshman of the Year and earned second team all-league honors a season ago.  Rojas led the Blazers with five goals and logged 680 minutes playing in all 18 matches with four starts.  She finished with 23 shots (.217) and 15 on frame (.652) with one game winning goal and was 1 of 1 in penalty kicks.  She earned GSC Freshman of the Week honors twice and registered five goals in five different matches.  
 
Kimmel, a Peachtree City, Ga., native, was one of just two Blazers to play and start all 18 matches in 2024.  She was second on team in minutes played, logging 1,402 and finished with three goals, along with a team-high six assists for 12 points tying the team-lead in scoring.  Her six assists were good for second in the league and 75^th nationally. Kimmel had nine shots (.333) with six on goal (.667) and went a team-best 3 for 3 in penalty kicks.  She played all 90 minutes nine times last season. 
 
For her career, she has played in 40 matches with 33 starts.  She has four goals and nine assists for 17 points, while registering 17 shots (.235) and ten on goal (.588), while logging 2,607 minutes.  She is tied for the school-record in penalty kicks made (3) and tied for second in penalty kicks attempted (3). 
 
Two Blazers also were named to the GSC Women's Soccer Newcomers to Watch for 2025 in freshman forward Rhyia Mitchell and freshman defender Kyndal Smith.  Mitchell comes to VSU from Fort Mill, S.C., while Smith hails from right down the road in Tallahassee, Fla. 
 
The Blazers are under the direction of head coach Stephen Andrew begins his ninth season at the helm of the Blazers in 2025.  VSU is slated to open the season Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Middle Georgia, while the 2025 home opener is set for Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. versus Palm Beach Atlantic at the VSU Soccer Complex.  
 
Andrew is the winningest coach in VSU women's soccer history at 66-53-14 (.549) and is 51-35-10 (.583) in GSC play.  He is beginning his 19^th season overall of coaching and is 206-108-23 (.645) with previous stops at Huntingdon College and Piedmont College.  
 
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