VSU’s Margaret Stauffer (2) dribbles down the sideline while avoiding Thomas University’s Myra Jenkins (7) during Wednesday night’s game in Valdosta.

Valdosta State’s women’s soccer team suffered a setback Wednesday night, losing 2-1 to Thomas University at the VSU Soccer Complex.

Kelsea Whitaker’s header in the 75th minute gave the Lady Night Hawks the lead, and Thomas’ defense and goalie Heather Collins kept the ball out of the goal the rest of the way.

“With all their international experience and players they have on their team (Thomas has 10 foreign players), they’re a good team. We didn’t lose to a bad team, and we didn’t play badly enough to lose. But we made some mistakes, and they cost us,” Valdosta State head coach Mel Heinz said.

It was VSU’s first-ever home loss. The Blazers had been 8-0 at the VSU Soccer Complex.

The Blazers only took eight shots in the loss.

“We didn’t take enough shots,” Heinz said. “We possessed, we were definitely in our attacking half over most of the (first half). But when you’re only putting up three shots, then you’re just playing a game of possession. We had three shots and one goal. (In the second half) I think they again just kept possessing and moving it.”

“You can’t get three shots in the first half and (five) shots in the second half and expect to win a game,” she added.

Valdosta State took an early lead with a goal in the 23rd minute. A Thomas player had the ball in her own box, and tried to dribble it out. Valdosta State’s Emily Cooper stole the ball and passed it to Rebecca Miller, who took a few steps, then shot it into the goal to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead.

For most of the first half, Valdosta State’s defense kept the ball out of the box and denied Thomas a lot of scoring chances. VSU goalie Olivia Mills was hardly tested in the first 44:50 of the half.

Then in the final seconds of the first half, Thomas got the ball in transition. Alyssa Denton passed to Jenny Hernandez, whose pass found a wide open Alyssa Tresch on the right side. Tresch had no one in between her and Mills. Tresch raced in and shot towards the left post. Mills dove, but the shot was out of her reach, and it went into the goal with two seconds left in the half, tying the score at 1-1.

In the 60th minute, VSU’s Blakely McClellan stole the ball from a Thomas player, and sprinted towards the goal. She unleashed a shot towards the upper right corner of the goal, but Collins made a leaping save on the shot, and denied the Blazers a good scoring chance.

Three minutes later, Mills stopped a shot by Whitaker.

In the 75th minute, Thomas got a free kick from about 30 yards out. Breanna Pullara sent the ball into the box. Whitaker put her head on it, and sent it into the right side of the goal to give the Lady Night Hawks a 2-1 lead.

After Thomas took the lead, VSU tried to fight back and get a game-tying score. The Blazers had scoring chances, but couldn’t put the ball in the goal.

In the final minute of the game, Valdosta State got a throw-in near the corner on the Lady Night Hawks’ side of the field. After a scramble for the ball in the box, Thomas tried to clear the ball out, but the ball went to VSU’s Caroline Moore, who unleashed a shot from about 25 yards out. The ball was headed for the upper left corner of the goal, but Collins leaped, got her fingertips on the ball and altered its trajectory just enough for the ball to hit the crossbar and stay out of the goal. About 20 seconds later, VSU’s final shot hit the side of the goal.

“The keeper (Collins) wasn’t bad,” Heinz said. “Especially on (Moore’s) shot. She came up with a big save.”

VSU fell to 11-5 overall.

At halftime, Heinz was presented with a check for $1,500 from the Delta Chi fraternity, which had held a fundraiser to raise money for the team.

Valdosta State will play arguably the biggest game of its brief soccer history on Saturday, when it hosts West Georgia at 11 a.m. at the VSU Soccer Complex. If the Blazers win, they will earn a share of the Gulf South Conference regular season championship.

“Our players want it. They want that title of regular season champs,” Heinz said. “They know there’s only one team standing in their way, and that’s West Georgia.”

“There’s a lot riding on this game, on both sides of the ball. So it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a lot of intensity, a lot of emotions, a lot of stakes for this game,” she added.