Sterling Girls Soccer Rebuilds With Eight Freshmen After Key Senior Departures

Sterling High School girls soccer lost goalkeeper Racquel Lopez, who made 106 saves while allowing 30 goals last season, to graduation, and now eight of the program's 20 players are freshmen navigating varsity competition for the first time.

The turnover runs deeper than the goalkeeper position. Five seniors departed after last season's 6-6-2 campaign, four of whom scored at least once. Lydia Boxberger led that group with four goals. Coach Andy Mildenberger put the losses plainly: "From last year, we lost one of our main scorers and then our keeper and our main defensive player."

The Tigers retained one critical piece. Junior striker Kylie Mildenberger returns after accounting for 15 of the team's 31 goals last season, making her the clearest anchor for a lineup otherwise being rebuilt around its youngest players.

Three early games tested that lineup quickly. On March 16, Sterling traveled up I-70 to the mountains and beat Clear Creek 3-2, a result that showed the Tigers can compete on the road. The two games that followed were sharper challenges: a 6-1 loss to Wellington and a 5-2 defeat to Gering, Neb., on March 26, when Addamari Ocha was among the Sterling players pressing forward on the field.

Coach Mildenberger sees those losses as part of an expected learning curve. "The younger girls are definitely stepping up. It's just experience level, primarily on the defensive side of it," he said.

With eight freshmen still adjusting to varsity speed and Lopez's 106-save workload now needing to be absorbed by a new goalkeeper, Sterling's defensive identity will take time to solidify. Kylie Mildenberger's return keeps the scoring foundation intact; how quickly the back line matures will determine what this rebuilt roster can accomplish.