PORT HURON, Mich.- The St. Clair County Community College (SC4) women’s soccer squad is inching closer to its 2026-27 campaign. The Skippers will start their regular season with a pair of home matches on back-to-back days — Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23.
SC4 will have 20 regular-season matches on its docket this fall, of which nine will be held at SC4 Soccer Field at Morton Park in Marysville, Mich.
The Skippers will be led for a third-straight season by Head Coach Karic Jones. Jones and this season’s squad will look to advance to the playoffs once again, just as the Skippers did in Jones’ first season. In 2024, SC4 made the semifinals of NJCAA Region 12 Tournament with a 6-8 record and regular-season triumphs over the likes of Lakeland Community College (8-0), Grand Rapids Community College (5-2), Lake Michigan College (4-2), and Muskegon Community College (2-0). SC4 was 4-10-1 last season.
SC4 has already started practicing for the new campaign. “I have been really happy with how the first week of practice has gone,” said Head Coach Jones. “The girls are working hard and competing every day; they really get after it in practice. It is really a whole new team, so having them work well together as a group is great.”
SCHEDULE OUTLOOK
As mentioned above, the first two matches will be at home for SC4, as the Skippers will welcome Parkland College on August 22 and Morton College on August 23. The team will then finish August with a trip to New York to face-off with Genesee Community College (August 27) and Erie Community College (August 28).
September begins with a home date vs. Delta College on the first of the month, before another road trip, this time to Illinois, is set for September 4 and 5. The Skippers will square off with College of DuPage and College of Lake County on those back-to-back dates. After that, SC4 will be home just once over the next five matches, which is on September 13 vs. Alpena Community College. The next four matches against Schoolcraft College, Marian University Ancilla, Jackson College, Kellogg Community College, and Delta (September 16, 19, 23, 26, and 30) are all on the road.
After the lengthy road swing, the Skippers return to Marysville for a three-match home stand vs. Grand Rapids Community College (October 2), Lakeland Community College (October 6), and Muskegon Community College (October 10). The final four regular-season will feature two home and two road dates — the road contests being at Alpena (October 14) and Lake Michigan College (October 17), while the two home games being vs. Schoolcraft (October 21) and vs. Jackson (October 24).
Should the Skippers advance to the regional tournament this season, it will once again be held at SC4 Soccer Field at Morton Park. Those three dates are October 27 (First Round), October 31 (Semifinals), and November 1 (Final).
ROSTER OUTLOOK
Only eight of the 26 student-athletes on this year’s roster are sophomores. However, of those eight, only five (Aireonna Keller, Grace Kennedy, Libby Noble, Grace Twiby, and Sarah Valdivia) were on the roster last year.
Noble returns to the team after suffering an injury and thus only playing in nine contests. Those nine contests were memorable, however, as she tallied four goals to place third on the squad. Twiby played in 13 matches in 2025-26 and will look to have an even bigger season in 2026-27. “Twiby was our most impressive player last season,” said Jones. She was a defender for the majority of the time, so she went under the radar statistically. She will not have to play as much of a defensive role this season, and we are expecting her to have a breakout year.”
Kennedy has also stood out in practice to Coach Jones thus far. “She is doing an excellent job leading the group and her play is substantially faster than last season,” he said.
There are also some notable newcomers entering the season. Tessa Freeland was an All-State Second Team member at St. Clair High School this past spring, while Lucy Yuen played for Hong Kong’s under-19 team and has traveled to Mongolia, Russia, and Jordan to play soccer.
Incoming freshmen Claira Taylor, Phoebe Tacker, and Lilah Cron are also expected to play a major role for the team. “They are kids that will be 75+ minute players for us this year and will also be a really solid base for our defense,” said Coach Jones.
In goal, SC4 will turn to Kaylee Backers, a graduate of Richmond High School. “Kaylee will start in goal for us,” said Jones. “I am really happy that we were able to bring her home. She is as impressive as advertised.”
For a full list of matches in order and more information on the women’s soccer program as the season progresses, visit SC4Skippers.com.
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For media inquiries, please contact Sarah Rutallie, Chief of Staff, SC4, at srutallie@sc4.edu
St Clair County Community College (SC4) was founded in 1923 and is the only public higher education institution in the thumb of Michigan. SC4 is a comprehensive community college that provides certificates and degrees for employable skills and college credits that can be transferred to a four-year college or university. The college provides collegiate arts and athletics for the area and has been an asset for students and the Port Huron community for over one hundred years.
