VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's soccer team opens the 2025 season on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Middle Georgia in Cochran, Ga., followed by opening the home slate on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. versus Palm Beach Atlantic at the VSU Athletic Field House.
 
The Blazers were picked sixth in the Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches Poll released on Aug. 21.  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.
 
VSU had two players selected to the preseason all-league team in sophomore Maria Rojas and senior Katherine Kimmel.  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.  
 
The Blazers finished the 2024 season with an 8-7-3 record overall and a 5-4-3 mark in GSC play as the team qualified for the GSC postseason tournament for the seventh time in eight seasons under Andrew.
 
He returns a talented group of players for 2025 and welcomes in a strong contingent of newcomers as the Blazers have their sights set on a GSC championship and a berth in the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2021.
 
All Gulf South Conference matches and all VSU home matches will be streamed on FloCollege this season and the home matches will have play-by-play commentary from Derrick Weyand.  FloCollege will be $19.99 per month or $107.88 per year ($8.99/month). 

Subscribers who use with a .EDU email from a GSC institution (affiliates included) will receive discounted subscription options of $9.99 per month or $71.88 for the year ($5.99/month). Subscriptions can be cancelled at anytime. 

To ensure discounted prices, GSC fans are encouraged to sign up using the GSC Landing Page or via the game links on the schedule's of their favorite team's website. 

Middle Georgia begins its second season playing in NCAA Division II as the Knights were picked tenth in the Peach Belt Conference preseason poll.  MGA finished the 2024 season with an 8-11 record overall and went 2-3 against Division II opponents, including a 3-0 loss to VSU in Valdosta in the season-opener for the Blazers.    It marked the first meeting between the two teams in program history as Rojas scored her first collegiate goal and current junior Sarah Hudson also scored in the game.  VSU outshot the Knights 18-2 and 12-1 in shots on goal.  
 
The Knights return 13 players from last season and added the services of 12 new players for the 2025 season.  The match against VSU will be MGA's first D2 home match in program history.  Highlighting the returnee's for MGA this season is Safiya Dean who finished second on the team in scoring with 13 points on five goals and three assists.  She had 32 shots and 17 on frame for the season.  Eliza Telford also returns as she scored two goals and tallied two assists last season with two game winners to lead the team.  
 
In goal, Hollie Keefe returns who started 17 contests for 1470:40 minutes with 36 goals allowed and a 2.20 goals against average.  She had 84 saves and three shutouts.  Iqra Noor also returns as she had nine saves in 149:20 minutes facing 18 shots in two matches with one start. 
 
PBA opens the season at Thomas University on Thursday, before heading East on US Highway 84 to Valdosta for Sunday's matchup.  The Sailfish were picked tenth in the Sunshine State Conference Preseason Poll.  Head coach Stephanie Cradduck begins her second season after going 7-7-2 overall and 3-6-1 in SSC play in 2024.  
 
Cradduck welcomes back a number of key starters including Aidan McCausland, Emily Rinaldi, Anna Foreman and Madison Kovar, along with 11 freshmen.  McCausland finished with one goal and two assists for four points last season.  She had 24 shots and 13 on frame.  
 
The Blazers lead the all-time series 3-1, but the teams haven't played since PBA won 2-1 in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 12, 2014.  VSU won the first three meetings shutting out the Sailfish by a combined score of 5-0 with wins in 2011, 2012 and 2013.  This will be the third meeting between the two teams in Valdosta and first since Oct. 13, 2013.  VSU is 2-0 in Valdosta and 1-1 in West Palm Beach. 
 
Following the first week of the season, the Blazers return to the road with matches at Georgia College (Sept. 11) and Georgia Southwestern (Sept. 14), before returning home to host Embry-Riddle on Sept. 17.  
 
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