VALDOSTA Ga. - It was a fun road trip to South Georgia for the University of West Georgia soccer team as they came away with a 2-0 victory over rival Valdosta State on Sunday afternoon in the Gulf South Conference opener for both teams.

It was the second straight clean sheet for the Wolves as Haley Brinkman kept the Blazers out of the goal on Sunday.

"The defense and Brink were great throughout and we found ourselves in key positions in their final third where we eventually capitalized," said head coach Stacey Balaam. "The cohesiveness of the group was definitely on display today."

Defense ruled the first 20 minutes of the match, as both sides combined for just two shots during that time frame. In the 34th minute, Florence Pegrum capitalized on a nice cross from Jayden Boswell, and fired a shot off of her left foot that found the back of the net to give West Georgia a 1-0 lead, which would hold going into halftime. 

The Wolves held the Blazers to just four shots and only one on goal for the half. West Georgia finished the half with six shots with five being on target. Brinkman only had to make one save in the half, with Emma Pruett making four saves for the Blazers. 

In the second half, the Blazers came out of the locker room and took three shots in the first 10 minutes, but none found the target. The Wolves defense once again came up huge, making big stops down the stretch, including clearing back to back corner kicks in the 75th minute. 

Late in the game,the Wolves would add to their lead as freshman Catherine Reeves registered her first career goal to put the game out of reach in the 85th minute.

The Wolves finished the contest with nine shots with five on goal, and the Blazers finished with 14 shots, with just four being on target. Brinkman also finished with four saves on the afternoon, giving her 19 on the season. 

"We knew there would be no margin for error today," Balaam added. "Valdosta State is a good team who will punish your mistakes so we had to be focused for the full 90 minutes."

With the 2-0 victory, Balaam picks up her sixth straight conference opener win, having never lost a conference opener in her tenure with the Wolves. 

All time, West Georgia is 15-2 in league openers since joining the GSC in women's soccer in 2005.

West Georgia is now idle until next Friday when they continue GSC play at Spring Hill in a 4:30 p.m. kickoff from Mobile, Alabama.