Jays' Hubbard will play college soccer

After finishing the season 0-16, the Jamestown boys' soccer team notched its first victory on Thursday, and it didn't even take place on the field.

Blue Jay senior Sterling Hubbard signed a letter of intent play men's soccer at Dakota Wesleyan University.

"I think it's good for the program," said JHS boys' soccer coach Colin Rose. "I know the program right now, not a lot of kids think playing college soccer is a viable option, just because we haven't really had much success as of late. But, in my opinion, I think we do have some kids right now in the program that could play college soccer in the future if they want to."

Hubbard will be entering a system that he will be fairly familiar with having spent some time playing under Dakota Wesleyan coach Jeremy Tosaya.

"I really like Jeremy as a coach," Hubbard said. "I've had him before through my experiences in ODP (Olympic Development Program), and I just thought he was a great coach."

The Tigers qualified for the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament last season and are looking to build off last year's semifinal loss.

Dakota Wesleyan, located in Mitchell, S.D., is currently second in the GPAC with a 4-2 record against conference foes, and even though Hubbard won't be joining his Tiger teammates until next fall, he's still been following his future team and will continue to do so as they make their run into the playoffs.

"I've been keeping up with them a little bit," said the versatile Hubbard. "There a team that is steadily getting better."

Throughout his career, Hubbard has always been his harshest critic and Rose said it's that competitive nature that could help him flourish in the collegiate ranks.

"He was definitely one of our hardest working players," said Rose, who recently wrapped up his first season as the Blue Jays' head coach. "You could definitely see when he was disappointed in how he was playing. He wants to succeed. He wants his team to succeed. ... He wants to push himself in games and he wants to perform well."

Hubbard was named to the All-West Region tournament team last week following an opening-round loss to Minot in the West Region tournament. The team struggled throughout most of the season offensively, but with a lot of young talent surrounding Hubbard, his leadership was almost as important as his production.

"We have some kids that have taken after him," Rose said. "In games we have to put our full effort into it, and he did that. I think him getting a scholarship to play college soccer is just another example of what you can do."

Hubbard is the third Blue Jay this week to commit to a college athletically after fellow senior Dyllan Anderson committed to Jamestown College to play men's basketball and junior Kyra Dewald signed to play with the Jimmie women's basketball team.

"It feels good," said Hubbard. "I told my sister earlier that I feel like I could just jump into the sky right now with all that weight off my shoulders now."

Sun sports writer David Griswold can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by e-mail at dgriswold@jamestownsun.com . Follow him at www.twitter.com/dgriswoldjssun