Missouri Baptist University Women's Soccer

Merrick also holds a Master's degree in Education with an emphasis in Sport Management from Missouri Baptist.  Coach Merrick was one of the most influential players on the team during his senior season at Missouri Baptist. He was an All-Conference selection and was named an All-Region honorable mention. He also participated in the United Soccer League (USL) for the local St. Louis Lions in their first three seasons. Merrick helped the Lions reach the playoffs for the first time in team history. Additionally, he was an All-Conference First Team selection for the Lions in his first season.  As a coach, he took the Missouri Baptist women's soccer team to its first national tournament in 2009. The Spartans were one penalty kick away from advancing to the national tournament in 2014. The Spartans went 11-5-7 that season and lost to William Woods in the AMC tournament championship. Missouri Baptist scored 51 goals that season, an average of 2.4 per game, while giving up just 22 goals.  Coach Merrick is married to his wife, Alissa and has one daughter, Elise.  Oscar Rojas is in his second season as the women's soccer graduate assistant. He made the switch to women's soccer after a tremendous career for the MBU men's team. In three seasons, Rojas scored ten goals in 44 career games. He compiled ten assists over that time and tallied 30 points. Rojas had his best season in 2013 when he scored five goals and posted seven assists in 16 games for the Spartans. MBU started that season 6-1-1, and ended the year with a 9-6-3 record. In his first season on the coaching side, the Spartan women had one of the best seasons in program history. Missouri Baptist went 11-5-7 and lost in the American Midwest Conference tournament championship on penalty kicks. The Spartans gave up just 1.0 goals per game, while netting 2.4 goals per game.