The VSU women’s soccer team continues its historical inaugural season Friday taking on powerhouse West Florida in its first ever GSC tournament game at Brosnaham Park in Pensacola, Fla.
The Blazers missed the chance to share the GSC regular season title, but tied 1-1 with West Georgia last week.
As a result, VSU took the No. 3 seed and will compete against the No. 2 Argonauts in the semifinals.
Despite not earning the No. 1 seed in the tourney, Head Coach Mel Heinz is satisfied with the way the regular season ended finishing in the top four.
“I’m pleased with the effort and hard work,” Heinz said. “The bar is set high for us. This is what we worked to achieve.”
The last time these teams met up was last month when the Blazers were shut out 5-0.
She agrees that her team’s inexperience showed all game long against such a tough squad.
“You could tell we were nervous, we just didn’t play our way. We are going to change our system a little bit,” Heinz said.
VSU goalkeeper Olivia Mills, led GSC this season with eight shutouts, will look to redeem herself from their last meeting.
Heinz says she plans to keep the same starting 11 from last time however will make minor adjustments to the sub players.
VSU middle fielder Lauren Ingram disregards the previous loss from their last matchup.
“We’ve seen how they play,” Ingram said. “I think just knowing that we loss that much will just make us play harder.”
West Florida is led by senior Tina Murray, who finished the regular season with a staggering 14 goals.
UWF has won the last three GSC championships in a row and has made the tourney every year since it started in 1996.
The Blazers claim they are ready and not intimidated in the slightest.
“They put 11 on the field, we put 11 on the field,” Heinz said.
Heinz heads into this big game after recently being awarded this year’s GSC coach of the year honors.
“I think West Florida is going to face a different team and if they want to overlook us cause we lost to them so badly, that’s good too.”