When Sabrina Spink first arrived at Bakersfield College in 2011 as a freshman, she was coming off of an all-area soccer season at Liberty High School.

Four years later, the love for the game brought Spink, 22, back to BC, and her return has been beneficial on her end as well as the team’s.

Spink’s decision to leave after her freshman season was a shock to many, including her coach, because she was elected to the all-conference team as a freshman.

Spink continued to attend BC while working as a server/bartender to help pay for her college tuition. As graduation approached, Spink started to weigh her options on which universities she would like to attend, but with the high rate of tuition she did not know how she was going to be able to do it. Spink then came up with the idea to give soccer one more try and be a part of BC’s women’s soccer team in 2015.

“The whole reason I came back to play was to potentially get help in paying for school as well as competing at the next level,” Spink said. “I knew I had unfinished business as far as soccer goes.”

Spink knew it was going to be a struggle to get back to her former all-conference potential.

“To be honest, I did not really do anything to stay in shape.  I did not play or go to the gym at all for those four years. Definitely the laziest years of my life! All I really did was try to eat remotely healthy, and I also worked a lot.  I worked as a server/bartender for the past four years, so I was constantly on my feet and moving.”

Head coach Scott Dameron was there to motivate her since the first day on the practice field as he knew it was going to be difficult for her at first, but slowly the game would come back to her and she’d go back to being her old self, while her father offered her much-needed advice.

“Stepping on the field again was the most amazing feeling.  I had always known that I loved the game of soccer, but being out there again after four years made me love it that much more. It’s not really a feeling I can put into words, I am just happy to be experiencing it and hoping I get to continue to experience,” Spink joyously said.

Spink is leading BC in goals scored with 10 in 11 games this season and she’s top 20 in the state.

In regards to that, Spink said, “Given that I have been off for so long, it is sometimes a little difficult to do them in the way that I would like, but I still know what needs to be done and how to do them. I have always wanted to be the goal scorer and even as a little girl I was the one to put the ball in the back of the net. I like to think that I have a goal-scorers mentality.”

Spink is becoming a leader on the BC team as she is leading her younger teammates by example, showing the amount of hard work she puts on the practice field, and being her hardest critic in order to reach her ultimate goal, which is “an opportunity to possibly pay for my next two years of college.”

Not only is Spink an effective scorer, but she’s also a true athlete being able to flex and play at any position as she did midway through the season converting to a goalkeeper, where she blocked five goals in a shutout victory over Antelope Valley on Oct. 9.

“The coaches saw me fit for the position at the time and I was willing to do whatever they thought would be best for the team. As one of the team captains and a team player, it is my responsibility to be able to step up and play in any position needed at any given moment.”

No matter what position Spink has been playing this season, the Renegades have seen success from her.

Still, however, it has been a humbling comeback for Spink.

“I would like to improve on this season is my mental and physical strength,” she said. “Mentally, I would like better control on my personal response to difficulties and failures. Physically, I would just like to be stronger all around. Sitting out for as long as I did made me lose almost all of the muscle I put on from playing so long.”