Sterling College

Sterling College Head Soccer Coach Justin Morris announced that Megan Sykes has signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Sterling College.

Sykes, a 5'6, midfielder/defender, transfer from Hutchinson Community College.

Sykes played at HCC for the past two seasons under former Sterling College graduate Sammy Lane. She graduated from Campus High School in Haysville, KS.

"We are very excited about the Megan choosing Sterling to continue her education and playing career," said Morris. "She (Megan) should step in right away and help our team. She brings some great experience with her from HCC and Head Coach Sammy Lane."

Sykes appeared in every game for the Blue Dragons last season that won the Region VI Championship last season and advanced to NJCAA District B Tournament.

Sykes will be majoring in Psychology at Sterling.

Megan is the daughter of Robert and Teresa Sykes of Haysville, Kansas.

STERLING, Kan., -- Five members of the Sterling College women's soccer team received All-KCAC recognition.

Lady Warrior Seniors Jaymi McAnally and Stefanie Randall led the way as they were named the All-KCAC First Team for the second year in the row. \

McAnally, (Buda, TX) finished the season with 5 goals and 5 assists on the year at the midfield position.

"Jaymi has been a key player for us four years," said Sterling College Head Women's Soccer Coach Justin Morris. "I am very proud of her for finishing her career despite all the injuries she has endured. This is a tremendous honor for her. We definitely will miss her next season."

Randall, (Wichita, KS) finished the season for the Lady Warriors leading the Sterling defense once again and starting in every game this year and the past three seasons.

"Stefanie is another player that we are going to miss next season," said Morris. "Stefanie has been very solid for us," said Morris. "Stefanie is a hard worker and has been very poised for the past four years. I heaped a lot of responsibility on her in the back and was pleased with her progress. She definitely deserves this honor."

Senior Erica Nielsen along with junior Elisabeth Gafford and freshman Kylie Yates were named the All-KCAC Second Team.

Nielsen, (Manchaca, TX) scored 1goal and had three assists in 19 games for the Lady Warriors as a defender

Gafford, (Crowley, TX) tallied 3 goals and one assists in 19 games for the Lady Warriors as a midfielder.

Yates, (Berthoud, CO) was also named to the All-KCAC Second Team after an impressive freshman year leading the Lady Warriors in goals with 10 and three assists.

The Lady Warriors finished the season with a 7-11-1 record along with a fourth place finish in the KCAC.

The Sterling College Women's soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the KCAC Tournament Tuesday afternoon with a 2-1 penalty kick decision over the University of Saint Mary.

Both Sterling and USM entered the game knowing that it was going to be a tough one. The last time that these two teams met they battled out till the end with SC winning 2-1. Sterling had many chances in the first half could not get anything past USM's keeper Lindsay Baxter. USM used a set piece to score the only goal of the first half as time expired to give Saint Mary a 1-0 lead at the half. In the second half, Sterling once again pushed the ball forward but never could get any quality shots on the USM keeper. Until the 79th minute when Ashley Grimes crossed a ball into Jaymi McAnally who laid it off to Kylie Yates(picture above) who put it right over Baxter's head into the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 and that is the way it ended at the end of regulation.

"In the first half I was not pleased with the effort that we were giving and we knew we had to play better in the second half if wanted to get back in the game" said Head Coach Justin Morris. I thought we fought back great in the second half, unfortunately we could not finish it in regulation."

In the first overtime, Sterling had two great chances to score but once again Baxter came up big stopping both shots. Saint Mary's Emily Owen had a chance for USM as she found herself in front of the Warrior goal but Sterling keeper Erika Mesa came out and scooped up her chance on goal. Both teams could not find the back of the net throughout the second overtime which resulted in penalty kick shootout.

Sterling missed both of their first two penalty kicks and USM made one of their two. Senior Jaymi McAnally was the third shooter and placed a nice shot into the left side of the goal to bring the Lady Warriors back to even. USM's shooter missed the next one and so did SC. With one shooter for each team remaining Senior Erica Nielsen stepped up to finish a nice goal into the left side of the net. All the Warriors needed was for USM to miss or get a shot blocked and that is just what happened. Senior Erika Mesa blocked the last penalty kick to win the game for the Lady Warriors and send them onto the semifinals of the KCAC Tournament on Friday.

"I am glad this game is over" said Morris. "You always hate to see a game end on penalty kicks, two teams work so hard to be decided by five kicks of the ball. I am very proud of our girls though they stuck with it and didn't give up. I am especially proud of our seniors for stepping up and leading the way. We are going to have our hands full on Friday but we know that if you want to win the KCAC Championship you are going to have to fight for it."

#4 Sterling will play the #1 seed Kansas Wesleyan on Friday at 11:00 at Friends University. The winner will advance to the championship on Saturday to play the winner of the 1:00 PM McPherson/ Ottawa game.

Photo's courtesy Grayson Grimes

Sterling College honored its women's soccer seniors after their game Saturday in front of one biggest crowd's in the past decade and sent them out in style with a 5-2 win over Tabor College in their regular season finale in conjunction with the Sterling College Homecoming.

Sterling College found the net early and often in the first half out shooting the Blue jays 16-0.

Tabor played a lot of defense in the first half and did it well until the 11:52 mark when freshman Kylie Yates found the back of the net off an assist from senior Jaymi McAnally. In the 23rd minute junior Ashley Grimes found her self in front of the TC goal as she pounded in a cross from senior Erica Nielsen. Seven minutes later sophomore Kate Good touched a ball past the Blue jay keeper off an assist from Nielsen. Sterling would carry a 3-0 lead into the halftime break.

Senior Dani Wagner added a goal just two minutes into the second half off a pass from McAnally. Just six minutes later Tabor's Jessica Burden was taken down just inside the eighteen yard box and converted on a penalty kick to bring the score to 4-1. Burden struck again three minutes later when she broke thru the Warrior defense and slotted one into the back of the net bring the score to 4-2.

The rest of the way it was all Warriors as Elisabeth Gafford finished the game off with an unassisted goal. Sterling won the game 5-2.

Sterling finishes the regular season with a 7-10 overall record, including 5-4 in KCAC play, and will face the University of Saint Mary on Tuesday at 3:00pm at the Sterling College Soccer Field. If the Lady Warriors win they will head into the KCAC Post-Season Semifinals to face Kansas Wesleyan at 11am on Friday on the campus of Friends University.

Sterling College freshman Kylie Yates has been named Region IV and KCAC (Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) women's soccer "Player of the Week" after leading Sterling to two victories last week.

Yates led Sterling to a 2-0 record on the week, scoring two of her team's five goals and tallied 2 assist on the week.

The forward from Berthoud, Colorado scored one goal and had one assist in Sterling's 2-1 victory over Saint Mary on Wednesday. Yates scored the game winning goal against Bethany College. She now has scored eight goals and has three assist on the season.

"Kylie continues to improve as a player," said Sterling College Head Soccer Coach Justin Morris. "She had a great week and hopefully she can continue help us in the post season."

The Lady Warriors current record is 6-9 overall and 4-3 in the KCAC.

The Sterling women's soccer team got a much needed win over the University of Saint Mary Wednesday afternoon 2-1. Sterling who had dropped seven games in a row came into the day needing a win to stay to remain in the top half of the KCAC.

Sterling got down early in the eighth minute when USM's Emily Owen put a cross into the corner of the goal from about eighteen over SC's goalkeeper Erika Mesa to go 1-0. Sterling would respond though in the thirty-sixth minute when freshman Kylie Yates found sophomore Kailyn Willse who tied the game at one. In the second half it was Kylie Yates goal in the 78th minute that would win the game for the Lady Warriors off a Kate Good assist.

Sterling (5-9, 3-3) moves into a tie for fourth place, will travel to Bethany College on Saturday for a 1:00pm kickoff with the Swedes.

The Sterling College women's soccer team traveled to Ottawa, KS Tuesday evening for a match with Ottawa University.

Junior Ashley Grimes started off the scoring in the 33rd minute of play when she took the ball and dribbled by the OU keeper to put SC up 1-0 going into halftime. Ottawa responded in the 62nd minute when OU leading goal scorer Whitney Bowen evened the match 1-1. Both teams battled back and for until the 70th minute when SC freshman Kylie Yates put the Lady Warriors up 2-1 off an assist from Grimes. OU tied it back up in the h70th minute off another Bowen goal. At the end of regulation it was tied 2-2.

It only took the Braves four minutes into extra time before they were able to play a ball in the box from the left side and OU's Raechelle Sloan poked in the winning goal.

"Today I thought we put ourselves in a position to win" said Head Coach Justin Morris "We came out and played a really good first half and led at halftime. Which something we have not done the last four games. We had some good opportunities but gave up to much in the defensive half of the field. Ottawa fought harder than we did for 90 plus minutes and finished when they were supposed to."

Sterling falls to 4-7 on the season and 2-3 in the KCAC with two non-conference opponents on slate this Thursday and Saturday. Sterling will host Central Christian Thursday before traveling to Park University on Saturday.

The Sterling College women's soccer team dropped their second game in a row to NCAA Div. II Newman University 1-2 Monday evening in Wichita, KS

Sterling got down early when NU's Amanda Knabe found herself wide open in front of the Lady Warrior goal off a cross in the 10th minute of the game. Then the Jets struck again in the 23rd minute win Knabe found the back of the net for her second goal of the day. The Jets led 2-0 at intermission.

In the second half, Sterling bounced back with a goal from senior Jaymi McAnally off an assist from freshman Kylie Yates to bring the Lady Warriors within one. Sterling who continued to play much better throughout the second half could not find the equalizer.

"Once again we have to learn to play 90 minutes" said Head Coach Justin Morris "We have played some really good teams this year and we seem to only play 45-55 minutes against them. We have to find a way to play a complete game if we want to have a chance at winning a KCAC Championship this season."

Sterling (4-4, 2-0) now gets back to KCAC play as they travel to Southwestern College on Wednesday night. Southwestern (4-5, 0-1) is coming off a 0-8 loss to Rogers State University.

The Sterling College women's soccer team traveled to # 22 Benedictine College Saturday afternoon losing 0-3.

Sterling got a wake up call in the early moments of the first half when Benedictine Colleges Tricia Hutchison found the back of the net to give BC a 1-0 lead in the 2nd minute of the match. Sterling missed out on two great opportunities to tie the game up late in the first half but could not convert on either one. BC would find the net again in the 72nd minute and then again in the 84th minute to preserve the win 3-0.

Senior goalkeeper Erika Mesa had another yet outstanding game in the goal stopping 23 shots on goal from the BC attack.

"Today we knew we were going to have to play our best if we wanted a shot to win" said Head Coach Justin Morris "There is a reason why they are #22 in the nation. We didn't finish any of the chances that were given to us and we have to give a better effort in the offensive end."

Benedictine moves to 7-1 on the season while Sterling falls to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the KCAC. SC will travel to NCAA Div. II Newman University on Monday before traveling to Southwestern and Kansas Wesleyan at the end of the week.

The SC women's soccer team got a late goal from senior Jaymi McAnally in the 84th minute to push past Friends University in KCAC play Wednesday.

Sterling who got off to a very sluggish start held off Friends in the first half as both teams were unable to find the net. The second half proved to be all Sterling as they out-shot Friends 14-3. Senior goalkeeper Erika Mesa tallied four saves on the day.

"We definitely did not start off the game like we wanted to" said Head Coach Justin Morris. "Friends is a much improved team and we let them control almost all of the first half. The second half we made a couple adjustments with our flank players that really made a difference."

Sterling (4-2, 2-0) will now travel to #22 Benedictine College on Saturday for another tough non-conference match up before taking on NCAA Div. II Newman University on Monday night in Wichita. KS.