Sterling College

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