11-1-08: STERLING @ FRIENDS

Sterling's review of the November 1st season-ending match at Friends in Wichita KS.

STERLING FALLS TO FRIENDS IN OT

11/03/2008 - The Sterling men's soccer team needed just one more win to guarantee a spot in the post-season, and came up empty with a 3-2 loss in OT at Friends University on Saturday night. The Warriors found themselves down to
Friends 2-0 at half-time after the Falcons were able to score two first half goals. Early in the second half, at the 56th minute, the Warriors were able to notch their first goal of the night when Justin Martens slammed a shot into the back of the net after a Jordan Miller throw-in ricocheted off the crossbar. Late in the game, with about 4 minutes left in the match, Sterling back, Henry Sanabria collided with a Friends player resulting in both players going to the hospital for repairs to their split heads. Unfortunately for Sanabria and the Warriors, the official added insult to injury by showing Sanabria a red card as he walked off the field with a bloodied head. Now with a man down, it appeared the result of 2-1 would stand. With seconds left in the
game, Sterling was awarded a direct free kick on the right side of the Falcon's
penalty box. The Warriors took their time to get all players, including GK Zach
Hallen into the box. Shawn Sajjadi drove a perfect ball into the box that Hallen
brought down off his chest and poked to the back post for Sterling's Jordan Miller to bang in the equalizer with :06 remaining on the game clock. The Falcons were not to be denied, however, as Rusty Shannon buried the game winner off of a corner kick in the 8th minute of the first OT period.

The Warriors entered the final week of the season needing just one win in their final three games to advance to the post-season tournament; however, Sterling was not able to pull through with the necessary victory, ending on a three game losing streak and a premature ending to the season. "Obviously, we are disappointed to have the season end this early," said Sterling coach, David Underwood. "This doesn't change the fact that we had a solid season with a 10-7 record. We did a lot of great things and we have plenty to build on."

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* * * BREAKING NEWS * * *

Just arrived home from the game at Friends in Wichita. More tomorrow (actually later today, and the time on my computer just jumped back an hour) but here is the scoring line on Saturday night's game.

Sterling 0 2 0 - 2
Friends 2 0 1 - 3

Sterling scored with 8 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime, but Friends scored the golden goal game winner in the first OT.

Sterling's season comes to an end just short of the conference playoffs.

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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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