Hope College Women's Soccer

Sears has become Hope's winningest women's soccer coach with a 176-101-21 overall record. She has guided the Flying Dutch to three Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships and three appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The 2015 Flying Dutch finished second in the MIAA regular season standings and finished with a 16-3-3 overall record that was the third-most wins in team history. As a collegian, Sears was a three-sport standout at Ohio Wesleyan University. She was an all-conference player in the North Coast Athletic Conference in three sports soccer, basketball and track. In her senior year in soccer, she was voted the Ohio and conference player of the year and achieved All-America recognition as a midfielder. In 1998 she was inducted into the Ohio Wesleyan University Athletic Hall of Fame. After receiving her bachelor of arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan, Sears earned the masters of science degree from Ithaca College (N.Y.) and in 2007 was awarded the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University. Prior to coming to Hope, Sears was the women's soccer coach at Marietta College, Ohio (1994-99). In addition to her teaching and coaching responsibilities at Marietta, she was faculty advisor to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Sears has served a chief clinician for women at the Ohio High School Soccer Coaches Association and has been a member of the NCAA Division III Great Lakes region women's soccer advisory committee. Sears has been a director and clinician at numerous soccer and basketball camps. A member of the kinesiology faculty, she holds the rank of associate professor.

Slenk spent four years as the assistant coach for the Holland Christian boys helping them to reach a district and regional championship as well as to a state semi-finalist.  Slenk is entering his third year as head coach for the womens side and led them to a Michigan High School Athletic Association district championship in 2011. He currently holds a near 70% winning percentage with the women. Slenk captained Holland Christian for three years and helped the Maroons win the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 state title. He graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Education, majoring in art.  Slenk currently resides in Holland and is an art teacher at Holland Christian. | PO Box 9000, Holland, Michigan 49422