Valdosta State’s Allison Derck kicks the ball during practice Tuesday evening at the VSU Soccer Complex.

The day Valdosta State’s women’s soccer program has been waiting for is finally here.

The Valdosta State Lady Blazers will play the first intercollegiate soccer game in school history tonight. VSU will host Georgia Southwestern State at 7 p.m. at the VSU Soccer Complex.

The Lady Blazers are excited about this game.

“We’ve got signs out there in the hallways (at the VSU Athletic Fieldhouse) that were counting down the days, and I remember like 200-something (days) was on it, and now it’s got one on it. So it’s here,” Valdosta State head coach Mel Heinz said on Wednesday. “It’s a reality. I’m excited.”

Are the Lady Blazers ready to play?

“We are,” Heinz said. “We’re as ready as a group of kids that have never played together and have two weeks (of practice can be). I would say that we squeezed out every bit that we could in those two weeks, and I’m excited. We’ve got our starting lineup. We’ve got players that will come off the bench. We’re as close as we’re going to get for now, and then each game will show us what we need to change or work on.”

Heinz was hired as VSU’s head coach in March 2010. She has spent the last 17 months building the program, recruiting players and getting the team ready to play its first season.

So far, Heinz has been pleased overall with what she has seen from her team in practice.

“By work ethic, we should be darn good,” she said. “Talent-wise, it’s good. Jelling the talent is still going to be a work in progress. The mentality and the effort alone will make us great. We just hope to get that result on the scoreboard.

“Every game will be a challenge. But they want to win, and they’re coming out here to win and fight for everything. That’s what everybody will see every time they see us play. They’ll see the effort, they’ll see the desire and the want to. … They’re just good kids, and the community will get to see that as we play.”

Heinz has assembled a roster of 31 players, 22 of them freshmen. She estimates that her team’s starting lineup will have nine or 10 freshmen in it.

“They’re young and willing to learn and be coachable and hard-working. They’ve got no fear. They’re up for it,” Heinz said. “The exciting thing is that we have a large amount of players here on the team. If players aren’t doing the work, then we can go to the next person that’s talented. I think depth is certainly helpful there.”

Heinz thinks that goalkeeper Olivia Mills, forwards Kayla Reid and Blakely McClellan, midfielders Abbi Edwards, Caroline Moore and Hannah Mulkey and defender/midfielder Shealy Kulp will be some of the team’s top players.

“There’s several that have come in immediately and made impacts, and they’ve been consistent for the last two weeks,” VSU’s coach said. “I think we’re going to have (players) spread out throughout the field that are going to kind of help us during the game.”

Nikki Falcon, a defender who played at Lowndes, is the only local player on the team. The Lady Blazers have two other players from South Georgia, McClellan from Tifton and forward Casey Ponder from Cairo.

VSU also has two foreign players. Emily Cooper, a sophomore midfielder and forward, is from Auckland, New Zealand and Reid is from Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

Is this going to be a fun team for fans to watch?

“I know it will be,” Heinz said. “I know the fans will get rowdy for this group, because they’ll see them working hard, they’ll see them accomplishing things on the field and I think it will entice people to keep coming back and seeing more. Clearly this is our first game, and each game’s going to get better.”

Georgia Southwestern, based in Americus, went 4-13 last season, and 2-8 in Peach Belt Conference play. The Lady Hurricanes have seven starters back this year.

“They’re in the Peach Belt. The Peach Belt Conference is one of the strongest conferences in Division II,” Heinz said. “I know they’re going to be competitive in that aspect with their experience.

“Whoever shows up and makes the least amount of mistakes and plays the whole 90 minutes will get that win. We hope to do that.”

Heinz said that the players are excited to be a part of VSU’s first women’s soccer team.

“When we were recruiting them, they knew that this was going to be a history-making moment, and they are glad to be a part of it. I think they appreciate it,” Heinz said. “They’re ready to make history.”