Kansas State University Athletics
So Much to Be Proud Of
Nov 03, 2025 | Soccer, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
She's sitting inside the office of Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor and dabs the corner of her left eye with a Kleenex. A few days have passed since Colleen Corbin was announced as the second K-State women's soccer head coach in history and she comes to Manhattan from Saint Louis University, where she served as the associate head coach and helped the Billikens to a 15-2-6 record, an Atlantic 10 championship, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
She sits here in Taylor's office on December 5, 2024, and dabs her eye over the enormity of it all, because this is a dream coming true, and it's what she has waited for since those days coaching an under-10 soccer team as a junior at Oregon State.
Right now, Corbin has yet to announce her coaching staff, and she inherits a K-State roster in flux, and she takes over a soccer program that has never experienced a winning season, and one that has won three games in each of the past two seasons, and that failed to win a Big 12 Conference game in 2024.
In a matter of moments, Corbin will take center stage at her introductory news conference at the Vanier Family Football Complex. She will face some questions. And there will assuredly be some challenges ahead before she and the Wildcats take the field at Buser Family Park. But Corbin is passionate, she's positive, she's high energy, and she's a fighter.
And she's ready.
"When everybody counts you out and nobody takes you seriously, I love that," she says. "I'm ready to show up and shock some people."
Fast-forward. It's 8:39 p.m. on October 30, 2025. Nearly one year has passed since that day in Taylor's office, since Corbin talked about being taken seriously and shocking some people despite inheriting a soccer program that had been anchored at the bottom of the Big 12, and now Corbin stands on the field at Buser Family Park, and she wears her white K-State ballcap and her hands are driven into the pockets of her black vest, and she leans her head back and stares into the Manhattan sky, and she exhales deeply and watches her breath hang in the cold fall air, while K-State players sit in their usual large circle for a little post-game stretching and quiet chatter. But tonight, there is no chatter, only silence and stares following the final game of the regular season. A few players wear black parkas while the rest remain in the white uniforms that they so proudly wore during the best season in the 10-year history of K-State women's soccer — a season that also goes down as one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in Big 12 history. But it's hard to think about that right now.
The scoreboard reads: K-State 2, Iowa State 2.
K-State needed to win in order to potentially keep alive its magical season.
Now here comes Corbin, and she slowly walks toward her circle of players, and she walks around the circle's perimeter and slaps the hand of each player as they sit upon the field. There's no talk, only the consummate gesture in sports that dignifies a job well done.
"It's incredibly tough," Corbin says moments later, standing on the field, dabbing both eyes, which continue to well with tears. "It's just really hard. This group has continued to show up day in and day out and grind and be selfless and continue to try and grow. And so, it's just tough."
K-State, which entered the 2025 season with a 38-98-21 overall record in its nine seasons, and that won a combined six games in 2023 and 2024, finished the first year of the Corbin era with a 7-6-5 record, including a 2-5-4 mark in the Big 12.
In less than eight months, Corbin, a new coaching staff, and a roster that included just four returning starters and 11 newcomers, put together the winningest season in K-State history.
The Wildcats also set 48 school records.
It's likely one of the wildest, one of the most impressive, and perhaps one of the most improbable single-season turnarounds in the history of K-State athletics — regardless of team sport.
"I'm so proud of the growth of this team and the commitment and buy-in," says senior forward Andra Mohler. "I mean, we were able to do so much in one season under Colleen, breaking records and winning as many games as we have since I've been here. Being a part of that was so cool. This team is going to continue to propel forward and it's going to be fun to watch."
Mohler, a native of Bixby, Oklahoma, scored one goal as a freshman and one goal as a junior before scoring five goals during the 2025 season — tied for the third most in single-season history — while her seven career goals are tied for fourth all-time at K-State.
What will Mohler remember the most?
"For me, it's Colleen's belief in us as a team and me as a player," Mohler says. "She came in and instilled confidence into me and we built a trust. That's what I think about. I'm really, really grateful she came to K-State, and that I stayed, and it all worked out like this."
That's how this all started, really, with players believing in their new head coach and coaching staff. They all bonded during an 11-day team trip to compete in Italy this summer, and during the 8:30 a.m. runs Monday through Friday for 20 miles per week, and on through the practices and team meetings and breakfasts and road travels. On the field, they seemed to be as one, boasting one of the best scoring defenses in the Big 12 behind a school-record nine shutouts, while also scoring a school-record 23 goals behind an aggressive, take-all offensive mentality.
"I'll just remember me and my teammates coming out every single game and giving it our all and doing all we could do to win and just knowing every second and minute I was on the field we gave everything we could. There's nothing else we could've done," says sophomore forward Hannah Palmer, who scored five goals, including three game-winners, and four assists. "Colleen is building a program with lots of energy and enthusiasm.
"We're a program where being average isn't good enough."
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing can vouch for that.
Sibbing, a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, transferred from Kansas City and arrived in Manhattan on July 6, eager for the challenge to contribute at a Power 4 school. Sibbing, a two-time Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, entered the final week of the regular season ranked eighth among Power 4 goalkeepers and second among sophomores with nine shutouts in 2025. She didn't allow a goal during the first 504 minutes, 07 seconds of her career as a Wildcat.
"I'm just so proud of everybody on this team," says Sibbing, who remains on the field many minutes after her teammates head into the locker room for the final time. "Nobody thought anything of us at the beginning of the season. We showed everybody we're a team to be scared to play."
Sibbing pauses.
"Colleen has changed this program completely around," she continues. "What's special is we aren't satisfied at all. We're ready for next year."
Yes, it's almost been a year since this journey began. The job can become taxing at times. Corbin says it can be common. Fatigue? Nope. Not her.
"I talked to a coach a couple weeks ago, and they talked about how tired they were," Corbin says. "I'm not tired. I love winning, competing and being around these kids. It's an honor and a privilege. I'm pretty lucky to wake up and coach soccer every day. Yeah, I'm not tired. I'm just disappointed that it's coming to an end."
Corbin sits inside Taylor's office on December 5, 2024. She dabs her eyes and she's so grateful. She senses something special is brewing. Her energy permeates the spacious room.
"It's exciting," she says. "Having a community within the athletic department and in Manhattan and in the state of Kansas, it's exciting to think about the opportunities we have to grow and be successful."
And now Corbin is here, standing on the field at Buser Family Park on a cold night and at the end of her first season at K-State on October 30. So many incredible moments, and so many incredible memories. Seems no matter the coach or the sport, that very first team always tugs at the heart and has that special spot upon the office wall. And Corbin's first team at K-State was incredibly special.
Corbin, who often excitedly tweets two words — "BEST DAY!" — when praising individual efforts and successes of her women's soccer team, can now tweet two more words — "BEST YEAR!"
Before she walks off the field for the final time of the 2025 season, Corbin looks around Buser Family Park once more.
"It doesn't get any better than Manhattan," she says. "The head coach at Iowa State asked me if this was a place I could be at forever, and I said, 'Yes.' I hope I get that opportunity. I hope there are wins, conference titles, NCAA Tournament runs down the road, and that we get to reflect back on this first season and say, 'Man, what a great starting point.' The community has been great, and the administration has been awesome. The belief of our kids and them doing what we've asked them to do has been incredible. There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
She pauses.
"It's been an incredible journey," she says, "to start this career here."
She's sitting inside the office of Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor and dabs the corner of her left eye with a Kleenex. A few days have passed since Colleen Corbin was announced as the second K-State women's soccer head coach in history and she comes to Manhattan from Saint Louis University, where she served as the associate head coach and helped the Billikens to a 15-2-6 record, an Atlantic 10 championship, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
She sits here in Taylor's office on December 5, 2024, and dabs her eye over the enormity of it all, because this is a dream coming true, and it's what she has waited for since those days coaching an under-10 soccer team as a junior at Oregon State.
Right now, Corbin has yet to announce her coaching staff, and she inherits a K-State roster in flux, and she takes over a soccer program that has never experienced a winning season, and one that has won three games in each of the past two seasons, and that failed to win a Big 12 Conference game in 2024.
In a matter of moments, Corbin will take center stage at her introductory news conference at the Vanier Family Football Complex. She will face some questions. And there will assuredly be some challenges ahead before she and the Wildcats take the field at Buser Family Park. But Corbin is passionate, she's positive, she's high energy, and she's a fighter.
And she's ready.
"When everybody counts you out and nobody takes you seriously, I love that," she says. "I'm ready to show up and shock some people."
Fast-forward. It's 8:39 p.m. on October 30, 2025. Nearly one year has passed since that day in Taylor's office, since Corbin talked about being taken seriously and shocking some people despite inheriting a soccer program that had been anchored at the bottom of the Big 12, and now Corbin stands on the field at Buser Family Park, and she wears her white K-State ballcap and her hands are driven into the pockets of her black vest, and she leans her head back and stares into the Manhattan sky, and she exhales deeply and watches her breath hang in the cold fall air, while K-State players sit in their usual large circle for a little post-game stretching and quiet chatter. But tonight, there is no chatter, only silence and stares following the final game of the regular season. A few players wear black parkas while the rest remain in the white uniforms that they so proudly wore during the best season in the 10-year history of K-State women's soccer — a season that also goes down as one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in Big 12 history. But it's hard to think about that right now.
The scoreboard reads: K-State 2, Iowa State 2.
K-State needed to win in order to potentially keep alive its magical season.
Now here comes Corbin, and she slowly walks toward her circle of players, and she walks around the circle's perimeter and slaps the hand of each player as they sit upon the field. There's no talk, only the consummate gesture in sports that dignifies a job well done.
"It's incredibly tough," Corbin says moments later, standing on the field, dabbing both eyes, which continue to well with tears. "It's just really hard. This group has continued to show up day in and day out and grind and be selfless and continue to try and grow. And so, it's just tough."
K-State, which entered the 2025 season with a 38-98-21 overall record in its nine seasons, and that won a combined six games in 2023 and 2024, finished the first year of the Corbin era with a 7-6-5 record, including a 2-5-4 mark in the Big 12.
In less than eight months, Corbin, a new coaching staff, and a roster that included just four returning starters and 11 newcomers, put together the winningest season in K-State history.
The Wildcats also set 48 school records.
It's likely one of the wildest, one of the most impressive, and perhaps one of the most improbable single-season turnarounds in the history of K-State athletics — regardless of team sport.
"I'm so proud of the growth of this team and the commitment and buy-in," says senior forward Andra Mohler. "I mean, we were able to do so much in one season under Colleen, breaking records and winning as many games as we have since I've been here. Being a part of that was so cool. This team is going to continue to propel forward and it's going to be fun to watch."
Mohler, a native of Bixby, Oklahoma, scored one goal as a freshman and one goal as a junior before scoring five goals during the 2025 season — tied for the third most in single-season history — while her seven career goals are tied for fourth all-time at K-State.
What will Mohler remember the most?
"For me, it's Colleen's belief in us as a team and me as a player," Mohler says. "She came in and instilled confidence into me and we built a trust. That's what I think about. I'm really, really grateful she came to K-State, and that I stayed, and it all worked out like this."
That's how this all started, really, with players believing in their new head coach and coaching staff. They all bonded during an 11-day team trip to compete in Italy this summer, and during the 8:30 a.m. runs Monday through Friday for 20 miles per week, and on through the practices and team meetings and breakfasts and road travels. On the field, they seemed to be as one, boasting one of the best scoring defenses in the Big 12 behind a school-record nine shutouts, while also scoring a school-record 23 goals behind an aggressive, take-all offensive mentality.
"I'll just remember me and my teammates coming out every single game and giving it our all and doing all we could do to win and just knowing every second and minute I was on the field we gave everything we could. There's nothing else we could've done," says sophomore forward Hannah Palmer, who scored five goals, including three game-winners, and four assists. "Colleen is building a program with lots of energy and enthusiasm.
"We're a program where being average isn't good enough."
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing can vouch for that.
Sibbing, a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, transferred from Kansas City and arrived in Manhattan on July 6, eager for the challenge to contribute at a Power 4 school. Sibbing, a two-time Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, entered the final week of the regular season ranked eighth among Power 4 goalkeepers and second among sophomores with nine shutouts in 2025. She didn't allow a goal during the first 504 minutes, 07 seconds of her career as a Wildcat.
"I'm just so proud of everybody on this team," says Sibbing, who remains on the field many minutes after her teammates head into the locker room for the final time. "Nobody thought anything of us at the beginning of the season. We showed everybody we're a team to be scared to play."
Sibbing pauses.
"Colleen has changed this program completely around," she continues. "What's special is we aren't satisfied at all. We're ready for next year."
Yes, it's almost been a year since this journey began. The job can become taxing at times. Corbin says it can be common. Fatigue? Nope. Not her.
"I talked to a coach a couple weeks ago, and they talked about how tired they were," Corbin says. "I'm not tired. I love winning, competing and being around these kids. It's an honor and a privilege. I'm pretty lucky to wake up and coach soccer every day. Yeah, I'm not tired. I'm just disappointed that it's coming to an end."
Corbin sits inside Taylor's office on December 5, 2024. She dabs her eyes and she's so grateful. She senses something special is brewing. Her energy permeates the spacious room.
"It's exciting," she says. "Having a community within the athletic department and in Manhattan and in the state of Kansas, it's exciting to think about the opportunities we have to grow and be successful."
And now Corbin is here, standing on the field at Buser Family Park on a cold night and at the end of her first season at K-State on October 30. So many incredible moments, and so many incredible memories. Seems no matter the coach or the sport, that very first team always tugs at the heart and has that special spot upon the office wall. And Corbin's first team at K-State was incredibly special.
Corbin, who often excitedly tweets two words — "BEST DAY!" — when praising individual efforts and successes of her women's soccer team, can now tweet two more words — "BEST YEAR!"
Before she walks off the field for the final time of the 2025 season, Corbin looks around Buser Family Park once more.
"It doesn't get any better than Manhattan," she says. "The head coach at Iowa State asked me if this was a place I could be at forever, and I said, 'Yes.' I hope I get that opportunity. I hope there are wins, conference titles, NCAA Tournament runs down the road, and that we get to reflect back on this first season and say, 'Man, what a great starting point.' The community has been great, and the administration has been awesome. The belief of our kids and them doing what we've asked them to do has been incredible. There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
She pauses.
"It's been an incredible journey," she says, "to start this career here."
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