Sterling College

The Sterling College men's soccer team dropped their KCAC quarterfinal match to McPherson College Wednesday afternoon in a penalty kick shootout 3-4.

Like the women's game the day before Sterling and McPherson were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and eventually led to the shootout. Sterling started the match very aggressive pushing the ball forward and capitalizing on a nice goal in the 5th minute of the match. Junior Jordan Miller used his flip throwing ability to find sophomore Justin (J-Mart) Martins in front of the bulldog goal and chipped the ball over the head of Mac's Michael Davis to give the Warriors the early 1-0 advantage. McPherson and SC both had missed opportunities in the first half including a shot off the post by SC freshman Mladen Bjelica. Sterling had a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

In the second half, McPherson used a slight wind advantage to test senior goalkeeper Cory Speed. The bulldogs scored the equalizer in the 59th minute when Eduardo Rodriguez volleyed a ball past Speed to tie the game 1-1. Throughout the rest of the half and into both overtimes neither team could put the game winner away which led to a shootout.

"Going into the penalty kicks we knew anything could happen" said Head Coach Brandon Winn. "We put our best shooters on the line and prayed that our keeper would get a shot to fall his way."

In the shootout Mac's Davis blocked SC's Bjelica first attempt. Mac responded with a goal. Up next Martens placed his nicely in the bottom right corner of the net, once again Mac responded with another goal. The third shooter was junior Jorge Bueso who placed his shot perfectly in the left side of the net, and Mac responded again. Freshman Scott Helverson tucked a nice one inside the post on the left side, while Mac put in another one in. Going into the fifth round SC's Tyler Adam needed to score to keep the Warriors chances alive and but his shot struck the cross bar and out and the Warriors were eliminated from the KCAC Tournament on 2-4 on penalty kicks.

"It was only fitting that the conference's two best keepers meet in a penalty kick shootout" said Winn. "We were just unlucky today we had some nice chances to put the game away and couldn't quite make it happen. I am very proud of this group of guys as they have survived a very tough non-conference schedule and bounced back in the conference play with some nice wins."

Sterling (8-8-2) will now wait till Monday to see if they have a chance at advancing to the NAIA Region IV Tournament which will be based off the Longo points system. If the Warriors do advance this will be the third in time in as many years that they have qualified.