CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

Here are some excerpts from an article in the October 30th Leavenworth Times which discusses the upcoming conference tournament.

. . . Bethel kept its KCAC Tournament hopes alive by improving to 4-4 in conference play and moving into a tie for sixth place with Sterling College, although Sterling has the head-to-head tie-breaker with a win over the Threshers.

Only the top six teams advance to the KCAC Tournament, so Bethel will have to pass either Sterling, Friends University or Tabor College. They are currently half a game behind Friends and one game behind Tabor.

. . . With only four at-large teams being awarded spots in the NAIA’s national tournament this year, the automatic bid that goes with winning the conference tournament will likely provide the only spot for any KCAC team.

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PREVIEW: STERLING @ FRIENDS

Saturday night, November 1st, Sterling plays the final conference game of the season at Friends in Wichita KS. The game is not truly a "must win" game as (I believe) Sterling qualifies for the conference tournament with a loss if Bethel also loses. But, if Bethel defeats Tabor, then Sterling "must win" to make the playoffs.

Bethel stood 0-10 after losing to Sterling, but since then has won 4 of 5 games, including a victory at McPherson. Tabor is coming off a loss to Kansas Wesleyan. Tabor's quality results include a victory over Sterling and a tie with McPherson.

Friends has an additional game to play after this weekend. So, if Sterling defeats Friends on Saturday, the Falcons could still tie Sterling in the standings with a win over Tabor, but Sterling would hold the tiebreaker over Friends.

Sterling has lost consecutive games to Tabor (0-1) and McPherson (1-2). Injuries are beginning to mount (two or three starters may not play) and there will be a red card suspension from the last game.

History: In 2005, Sterling beat Friends 3-1 as Mark Palmer, Maximus Ameachi and DR Smith netted goals for Sterling. In 2006, Friends defeated Sterling in a regular season game 2-0, then beat Sterling again 3-0 in the conference tournament. However, the teams were paired up again in the NAIA Region IV playoffs (at Friends) and this time, Sterling won 4-3 in one of the squad's biggest victories, with Ryan Covey (2), Carl Gerken and "team" being credited with goals. The victory advanced Sterling to the Region IV playoffs in Omaha NE, where Sterling lost 1-0 in overtime to Park University. Last year, Friends overwhelmed Sterling 5-0.

Game time is 8:00 p.m. tomorrow in Wichita. We plan to attend and meet up with a college buddy from OK State, who teaches in Wichita. The game could be the final match for Sterling's four seniors but I think they will survive and advance to the conference tournament.

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PROFILE: RYAN COVEY

RYAN COVEY # 14

Position: Forward

Hometown: Edmond, Oklahoma

High School: Bishop McGuinness

Club Team: North Oklahoma City Azzurri

Coach's Comments: With 37 goals in his career, Covey is second on the list of all-time goal scorers at Sterling College. We would anticipate that Covey will surpass Brandon Winn (39) as the top goal-scorer in Sterling history sometime early in the season. Ryan is a pure finisher, looking to turn every touch into a goal-scoring opportunity. Covey has worked incredibly hard in the off-season to become probably our most fit player, which should translate into an increase in goals later in matches.

Major: Business

Class: Senior



KHC'S Note's: Covey broke Coach Winn's career scoring record on September 6th, and was named KCAC conference player of the week and NAIA national player of the week on October 14th.

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CONFERENCE STATISTICS

The KCAC individual statistical leaders as of 10/29/08, include the following Sterling Warriors:

Points per game: 2nd-Ryan Covey, tied 9th-Jorge Bueso and Mladen Bjelica, 15th-Justin Martens, 18th-Shawn Sajjadi

Goals per game: tied 1st-Ryan Covey, 10th-Jorge Bueso, 13th-Justin Martens

Assists per game: 1st-Mladen Bjelica, 6th-Shawn Sajjadi, 9th-Ryan Covey, tied 10th-Jordan Miller, tied 14th-Aaron Baker, tied 17th-Jorge Bueso

Game Winning Goals: 3rd-Jorge Bueso, tied 5th-Ryan Covey, tied 8th-Shawn
Sajjadi

Saves Per Game: 5th-Zach Hallen

Goals Against Average: 6th-Zach Hallen

In the team statistics lists, Sterling ranks:

2nd in the conference in goals
1st in assists
5th in shots
3rd in shots on goal
7th in goalkeeper saves
6th in fewest goals allowed
9th in most shutouts (with 1, but this is an error as Sterling has 3 shutouts).

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NAIA STATISTICAL RANKINGS

Through games of October 29th, Sterling players rank nationally as follows:

Ryan Covey Ranks Number 13 in Goals per Game (1.000)
Ryan Covey Ranks Number 13 in Shots on Goal per Game (2.560)
Ryan Covey Ranks Number 18 in Points per Game (2.310)
Mladen Bjelica Ranks Number 24 in Assists per Game (0.560)

As a team, Sterling ranks:

Ranks Number 18 in Assists per Game (2.250)
Ranks Number 29 in Goals per Game (2.630)

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10-29-08: McPHERSON @ STERLING

It can be interesting reading to compare two different school's reporting on the circumstances and details of how one team won and the other team lost. Since I wasn't in attendance, I can't comment on what really happened, but here are the reports of the 10-29-08 game between McPherson Bulldogs and Sterling Warriors.

First, here is Sterling's report on their loss to McPherson:

DEFENSIVE GAFFS LEAD TO BULLDOG WIN

10/30/2008 - When McPherson and Sterling get together for a soccer match, it is
rarely a "typical game"; often crazy things happen. Wednesday night at Sterling
was no different. The first half was relatively uneventful until the 42nd minute
when McPherson's Armando Rodriguez scored on a direct kick from a nearly
impossible angle. Rodriguez served the ball into the box that simply bounced in
just inside the near post, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead at the half. "I think
everyone in the park was shocked that the ball went into the net. It was an
incredibly awkward goal," commented Sterling coach, Dave Underwood. The Bulldogs returned the favor in the 59th minute when a Ryan Covey cross was mis-hit by a McPherson defender that went into the back of the net. In the 66th minute
Sterling's Aaron Baker received his second yellow card of the match when he
fouled a McPherson attacker just outside of Sterling's box. Not only did Sterling lose Baker for the rest of the match, but the Bulldogs scored on the ensuing direct free kick that Warrior GK, Jordan Cabrera, was unable to collect and Jose Rodriguez scored on the follow-up. After several botched chances by Sterling combined with three fantastic saves by Bulldog GK, Chris Plooster, the 2-1 score held up for the McPherson win. Sterling now finds themselves in what is effectively a "must win" situation to make the KCAC playoffs, as they travel to Wichita to take on the Falcons of Friends University on Saturday night. The loss drops Sterling to 10-6 on the season and 4-4 in the conference.

And now, here is McPherson's version of the game:

MEN'S SOCCER WINS 2-1

Jose Rodriguez came up with the game winning goal 11 minutes into the second half Wednesday afternoon as McPherson held on for a 2-1 win at Sterling. The win was the fourth straight for the Bulldogs and moved McPherson into sole possession of third place in the conference. McPherson had entered the match tied with Tabor for third in the conference race, with Sterling a half-game back.Three minutes before halftime, Armando Rodriguez broke away for a solo shot on goal, to give McPherson a 1-0 halftime lead.

The McPherson men saw their streak of scoreless defensive minutes ended
Wednesday afternoon at Sterling, but it wasn’t their opponents that scored the
streak breaking goal.

As McPherson attempted to clear a Warrior attempt 14 minutes into the second half, the ball took a funny bounce on the rough Sterling pitch and into the McPherson goal, tying the match at 1-1.

Seven and a half minutes later, the Bulldogs to regained the advantage as Jose Rodriguez drove the ball into the Warrior net.

This was a rough and tumble, evenly matched affair as Sterling actually outshot McPherson, 13 to 12, six to five on shots on goal, and led in corner kicks, six and five.

“We dodged some bullets today and came away with a big win at a tough place to play,” said Doug Quint, McPherson men’s head coach. “This wasn’t our best
performance, by far!”

“I have to give credit to our team though. We found a way to win. Sterling has some good players and really challenged us today in many ways.”

On Saturday, McPherson (5-2-1, 8-7-1)will travel to Lindsborg for their KCAC regular season finale with the Swedes of Bethany College (0-8-0, 4-12-1). Match time will be 8:00 p.m., the concluding event of a “split” doubleheader since the women’s teams will play at 11:00 a.m.

This is Sterling's scoring summary, and probably because they were the home team, the summary that can be found at the NAIA's Dakstats3000WebSync site:

Goal - Time - Team - Goal Scorer - Description
1. 42:06 - MCP - Rodriguez, Armando
2. 59:11 - SC - COVEY, Ryan - Deflection off Defender
3. 66:48 - MCP - Rodriguez, Jose

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CONFERENCE STANDINGS

Heading into the final (ninth) game for most teams, here are the current conference standings. Although the KCACsports.com website has the teams arranged by winning percentage, the conference soccer guidelines state that teams are awarded 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.

Kansas Wesleyan 8-0, 24 points
Ottawa 6-2, 18 points
McPherson 5-2-1, 16 points
Tabor 4-2-1, 13 points
Friends 4-3, 12 points
Sterling 4-4, 12 points
Bethel 4-4, 12 points
St. Mary 2-6, 6 points
Southwestern 1-7, 3 points
Bethany 0-8, 0 points

Of the 10 teams, 3 teams are in the playoffs (KW, Ottawa and McPherson) and 3 have been eliminated (St Mary, SW and Bethany). That leaves 4 teams fighting for three spots.

Tabor plays Bethel and Friends; Friends plays Sterling and Tabor; Sterling plays Friends; Bethel plays Tabor. One thing known at this point is that if Sterling and Bethel tie for the 6th spot, Sterling goes to the playoffs on the basis of their head-to-head win over Bethel.
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* * * BREAKING NEWS * * *

KCACsports.com and McPherson's website report that the Bulldogs defeated Sterling by a score of 2-1.

NAIA/Dakstats3000 show the following scoreline and indicate Ryan Covey scored the Sterling goal:

Team 1 - 2 - TOTAL

McP - 1 - 1 - 2
Ster - 0 - 1 - 1
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PREVIEW: McPHERSON @ STERLING

This afternoon, Sterling hosts the McPherson Bulldogs in a game that is crucial to both team's efforts to secure a spot in the upcoming conference playoffs.

Entering today's conference games, Ottawa has 5 wins, McPherson, Tabor and Sterling have 4 wins each, and Friends and Bethel have 3 wins. I favor Ottawa to pick up win 6, Tabor lost yesterday and Friends and Bethel are favored to get their 4th wins. If the games go as predicted, the winner of McPherson/Sterling will move into third place with a 5th win, while the loser will drop down into an expected four-way tie with Tabor, Friends and Bethel. That would mean four teams tied for three playoff spots with only one game remaining for Tabor, Bethel and Sterling, and two games for Friends.

Last year, Sterling and McPherson tied in the regular season 1-1 in 2 OTs. Mladen Bjelica scored from a Wes Tom assist. The teams met a week later in the playoffs and again were tied 1-1 after 2 OTs. Again, Sterling scored early on a Justin Martens goal from Jordan Miller, but McPherson equalized in the second half and then won a shootout 4-2 to advance in the conference playoffs. In both 2005 and 2006, McPherson won 2-0.

In non-conference play, the two schools have similar results: both lost to Mid America Christian (although Sterling also defeated MACU), and both beat Southwest Assemblies of God, Manhattan Christian and Central Christian.

No current player on Sterling's roster has been involved in defeating McPherson, although the matchups have gone from two 2-0 losses to two 1-1 ties last year. This would be a great time for Sterling to break through with a win over McPherson.
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NAIA TOP 25

The NAIA's Top 25 for October 28th are:

1. Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.)
2. Oklahoma City University
3. Simon Fraser University (B.C.)
4. Notre Dame College (Ohio)
5. Hannibal-LaGrange College (Mo.)
6. University of Rio Grande (Ohio)
7. Concordia University (Calif.)
8. McKendree University (Ill.)
9. Bellevue University (Neb.)
10. University of Maine at Fort Kent
11. Park University (Mo.)
12. Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)
13. MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)
14. William Carey University (Miss.)
15. Vanguard University (Calif.)
16. University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)
17. Benedictine College (Kan.)
18. Warner Southern College (Fla.)
19. Auburn University Montgomery (Ala.)
20. Southern Nazarene University (Okla.)
21. Hastings College (Neb.)
22. Belhaven College (Miss.)
23. University of Mobile (Ala.)
24. Shorter College (Ga.)
25. Graceland University (Iowa)

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PROFILE: AARON BAKER

AARON BAKER # 23

Position: Midfield

Hometown: Searcy, Arkansas

High School: Searcy High School

Club Team: Memphis FC and Little Rock FC

Previous School: Coffeyville CC

Coach's Comments: After playing at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Coffeyville, Baker has found a home at Sterling College. He plays with great energy and pace and is a very capable outside midfielder. He serves a great ball and is adept at gathering up loose balls inthe penalty box. We anticipate that Aaron will be a great contributor at Sterling.

Class: Junior

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NAIA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

BAUTISTA AND SMITH NAMED MEN'S SOCCER PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Oct. 28, 2008 -KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The eighth installment of the NAIA Men's Soccer national weekly honors have been announced today (Oct. 28). Michael Smith of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) was announced as National Defensive Player of the Week while Antonio Bautista of The College of Idaho was named National Offensive Player of the Week, for the week of Oct. 20-26.

Smith, a 6-1 freshman goalkeeper from Oldham, England, has been unbelievable in goal this season. He posted a shutout in Lindsey Wilson’s 1-0 win over West Virginia Tech. Smith followed that with a three-save performance in the Blue Raiders’ 2-0 victory over then-No. 23 Embry-Riddle (Fla.). Those shutouts extend his scoreless streak to 615 minutes. In fact, Smith has not allowed a goal this year.

Bautista, a 6-0 midfielder from Homedale, Idaho, came up big for the Coyotes this past week. In their 4-2 upset of then-No. 24 Concordia (Ore.), the senior netted two goals and assisted with another. Bautista added two more goals later in the week in a 2-1 over Cascade (Ore.). With that win, the Coyotes became the first Cascade Collegiate Conference team to complete a no-loss, no-tie league campaign since George Fox went 5-0 in 1994. Bautista now has nine game-winning goals, the most in the NAIA.

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CONFERENCE STANDINGS

The KCAC reports the conference soccer standings as if they were baseball or football standings (ie: wins, losses and games behind), although its "Soccer Guidelines" states that teams are awarded 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. Based on these guidelines, the standings change somewhat.

1. Kansas Wesleyan 21
2. Ottawa 15
3. Tabor 13
3. McPherson 13
5. Sterling 12
6. Friends 9
7. Bethel 9
8. St. Mary 6
9. Southwestern 3
10. Bethany 0

Tabor has a game in hand on McPherson for third and Friends has a game in hand on Bethel for sixth. A lot can change in the final two or three games before the playoffs, but based on these standings, KW and Ottawa get byes, Tabor would host Friends and McPherson would host Sterling. The winner of Tabor / Friends would play Ottawa and the winner of McPherson / Sterling would play KW.

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10-25-08: STERLING @ TABOR

Here is how Tabor described their victory over Sterling on Saturday October 25th:

TABOR COLLEGE MEN'S SOCCER SHUTS OUT STERLING

10.27.2008 - The Tabor College Men's Soccer team earned its fourth conference victory Saturday in Hillsboro, shutting out Sterling College, 1-0.

Freshman Liam Mclean (Newcastle, England) scored the games only goal in the 21st minute of the game, as Tabor defense along with goalkeeper junior Aaron Schmucker (Inman, Kan.) shut down Sterling.

Schmucker recorded nine saves on the night for his third shutout of the season.

Tabor (4-1-1 KCAC, 7-7-1 Overall) will travel to Salina, Kan. to play Kansas Wesleyan University Tuesday, Oct. 28th, at 9 p.m.

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KCAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

The KCAC Week 7 soccer players of the week have been announced:

Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 1:54 PM - WICHITA, KS - Jose Garay of Kansas Wesleyan University and Juan Mundo of Kansas Wesleyan University named as Week 7 Men's Soccer Players of the Week.

KCAC Men's Offensive Player of the Week:

Jose Garay, KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Mid-Fielder, 5-10, Junior,
Palmdale, CA. He had 4 goals in two matches of the week: #1 at Ottawa
University (KS), W-2-1, he had no goals. #2 at Bethany College (KS), W-9-0, he had 4 goals. TEAM RECORDS: Week 2-0-0, Season overall 9-6-1.

KCAC Men's Defensive Player of the Week (including Goalkeepers):

Juan Mundo, KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (KS), Defender, 5-8, Senior, Sun
Valley, CA. In two matches of the week, he helped defeat both Ottawa and Bethany to stay undefeated in KCAC Conference play. TEAM MATCHES of week: #1 at Ottawa University (KS), W-2-1; #2 at Bethany College (KS), W-9-0. TEAM RECORDS: Week 2-0-0, Season overall 9-6-1. NOTES: On the year KWU has given up only one goal in KCAC competition.
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CONFERENCE RATINGS

The NAIA's ratings for the KCAC for 10-27-08:

1. Kansas Wesleyan University (7-0 / 9-6-1)
2. Tabor College (Kan.) (4-1-1 / 7-7-1)
3. Ottawa University (Kan.) (5-2 / 8-7-1)
4. McPherson College (Kan.) (4-2-1 / 7-7-1)
5. Sterling College (Kan.) (4-3 / 10-5)

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PROFILE: MLADEN BJELICA

MLADEN BJELICA # 21

Position: Midfield

Hometown: Garland, Texas

High School: Garland High School

Coach's Comments: Mladen returns for what should be a promising sophomore season. His explosiveness and ability to strike a clean ball make him a tough assignment for opposing defenses. Mladen is very versatile and will see minutes at both forward and midfield for us this year. He played in 16 games as a freshman, staring in 11 of those, and led the team with 9 goals in 2007.

Class: Sophomore

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PROFILE: GODFREY MIHESO

GODFREY MIHESO # 20

Position: Forward

Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya

Class: Sophomore

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