The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
For some athletes, injuries can create massive setbacks and harder comebacks. Some injuries can even end lifelong careers.
But for Sierra Sythe, injuries made her stronger, sharper and better than before. After suffering an ACL tear during her freshman year at Wake Forest University, the Millikan alum just wrapped up an impressive 2025 campaign on the pitch.
“Not only did I get to go to the National Championship last year, which was insane, but also to get called in individually to a National Team camp just felt so good,” Sythe said. “I’ve gotten myself onto the right path, and everything I did in the past year with PT and training and trying to get back to where I was paid off.”
The Road to Recovery
For Sythe, as for many players, coming back from an ACL tear was not easy. After working hard over the summer to earn a starting spot during her first year as a Deac, Sythe suffered the brutal injury 20 minutes into an exhibition game.
Not only was she set up to fight physical battles as she recovered, but the mental obstacles Sythe was facing were a challenge on their own.
“I was like, ‘Why did this happen to me? Why did I have to go through this?’” Sythe said. “I remember thinking after my surgery, when I couldn’t even walk for two months, ‘Am I ever going to get back to where I was?’”
Sythe credits her successful recovery journey to her team at Wake Forest. From physical therapy to her strength coach, everyone in her corner helped her get back on the pitch.
“Once I hit that time where I was able to start running again and start practicing and playing, I felt like that passion really started to come back,” Sythe said.
Sythe’s parents, Maribeth and Andy, said while Sierra’s injury was gut-wrenching to watch, they knew their daughter was going to come back stronger than before. Sierra always had an appreciation for the game and being forced to watch from the sidelines only deepened this connection.
“She had that new hunger to get out there and play, take advantage of her health and all of that,” Maribeth said. “I was very proud of her. That’s not an easy journey for anyone, and it paid off.”
Coming back from her injury, Sythe started 18 matches and played in all 24 games of the 2024 fall season. During this first full season as a Deacon, Sythe transitioned from winger to right back, where she helped Wake Forest to one of the best defensive records in the ACC and the nation.
In the 2025 season, the redshirt sophomore started all 20 games she played in, totaling up 1,746 minutes and playing all 90 minutes for 16 of the matches.
Halfway through her second full season as a Deac, Sythe’s eight assists were tied for 5th in the NCAA and 2nd in the ACC. Sythe finished the 2025 season at Wake Forest in the Top 50 for each ranking, being ranked the No. 10 assist leader in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the No. 40 player in the country on Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 100 Midseason Women’s National Rankings, the highest Deac on the list.
Wake Forest’s defensive strategy is to push outside backs high and wide, getting them involved in the offensive attack, which is what has helped Sythe rack up assists.
Before she started her dominant fall in North Carolina, Sythe represented the United States on the U-20 Youth National Team (USYNT) throughout the summer. She joined a team alongside 23 of the top players from across the country in weeks of May and June.
“It’s a validation of my hard work as a soccer player, not even just my hard work, but everything that I put into the sport,” Sythe said.
The experience Sythe gained at National Team camp contributed to the success she had at Wake Forest this fall. Sythe said training with the best of the best for her age group, even with some teammates being her collegiate opponents, allowed her to grow immensely as a player.
“Being able to share that knowledge and implement some of the skills that I was able to learn at camp with other people on our team was something I really valued,” Sythe said. “When one person gets better, everyone else on the team gets better. Also, the fact I am capable of being called into the National Team camp – having confidence moving forward in myself and in my abilities positively impacts the season and my team at Wake.”
Tino Nuñez, Millikan Girls’ Soccer Head Coach, said it was hard to watch Sythe’s freshman season be taken from her, but her recovery and success after is a testament to the player and person she is.
“Talk about adversity; her having to go through that and then where she’s at now,” Nuñez said. “There’s a story behind it. She came back stronger and continued to work. You see the type of person she is and what this means to her; the passion and love she has for the sport.”
Back to Her Roots
Representing her country for the sport she loves isn’t an honor Sythe takes lightly. Her National Team experience goes back to the U-15 level when Sythe played on Beach FC, but her lifelong passion for soccer started when she was a kid.
“By the time I was able to walk and run, I was in sports,” Sythe said.
She was driven by her parents, who were both collegiate athletes themselves. Maribeth played soccer at Dayton and Wright State while Andy played football at West Valley College and has been the Head Coach of LBSU Track and Field since 1989.
Having been present on the Long Beach sports scene, Andy and Sierra have both earned recognition through their sports. Andy is an 11-time Big West Track and Field Coach of the Year who has won 13 Big West titles; the most of any program in the history of the conference; and 10 MPSF titles, a conference-high record.
“They never took their foot off the gas pedal with helping me,” Sierra said of her parents. “From them to Tino, having them pushing me was obviously a huge help. As I went through my soccer career, I had a lot of different people who were willing to help me and who never gave up on me. I think that was just a really big part of getting me to where I am today.”
Despite their personal careers, the Sythes don’t necessarily credit their own athletic history to their daughter’s success.
“She was just a natural,” Maribeth said of Sierra. “I remember when she was probably eight, she just said, ‘Mommy, I was born to score goals,’ and there was no looking back.”
In a world where club sports are ever growing in popularity, Maribeth and Andy Sythe said Sierra’s introduction to the sport through AYSO Recreation soccer is what has propelled her to continue playing through the years. Starting soccer in a lighthearted environment where fun was the priority helped Sierra grow a passion for the sport.
“It’s important to just keep doing what you love, and everything evolved for Sierra from that,” Andy said. “I think AYSO served a great purpose in that.”
During her first year playing at Millikan, Sierra was named the 2022 Moore League Offensive Player of the Year and earned All-Moore League First Team and CIF Southern Section First Team honors. She wasn’t able to represent the Rams until her junior year when U.S. Soccer terminated the Development Academy (DA) – a club soccer program that had its athletes training at a high intensity year-round and not allowing them to compete at the high school level.
“I’m at this point where I’m really thankful to have been put in high pressure situations my whole life – in high school and club and then now in college,” Sythe said. “I’ve been able to really grow as a player and a person. Seeing where I started when I was four to now, I’ve come a long way.”
After earning individual accolades in 2022, Sythe led the Rams to a Moore League championship with a dominant 11-0-1 record in her senior year. Although Sythe had a late start in Millikan’s program, her impact on the team was immediately evident, Nuñez said.
“She’s just a leader on and off the field,” Nuñez said. “She’s somebody that has always wanted to do the extra and is always trying to get better. She led by example, and she got the girls to believe in what the program wanted to be about.”
When coming back from her injury, Sierra’s long-rooted passion for the game paired with her focus is what fueled her comeback. Andy Sythe, who has coached a fair share of extraordinary athletes and Olympians, said his daughter has always had an impressive level of self-motivation.
“She’s very disciplined, she’s always been that way from an early age,” Andy said. “Her injury, from a parent’s perspective 3,000 miles away, you have those fears that it might be a tougher recovery journey. It was not easy, it was always tough, but she managed it, pushed herself and got through it. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Andy said soccer means everything to Sierra, so he knew this setback wasn’t going to take his daughter down. Although her injury gave her a hard road of recovery, Sierra said she learned more than she could have imagined during the fight to get back on the field.
“If I hadn’t gotten injured, I wouldn’t have learned that I’m capable of more things than I can actually think of,” Sythe said.
While Wake Forest has helped Sythe gain success in her new position as a defender, Sierra said she credits her on-field triumphs and successful recovery to her community, both in North Carolina and Long Beach.
“Being able to go basically my whole career surrounded by not only people in the soccer world who were always encouraging and wanted me to succeed, but also people outside of it was just so good for how I viewed myself as a player,” Sythe said. “I really am surrounded by a community that loves me, and it just felt so great, and I can’t thank all those people enough for how they’ve impacted my life.”
Nuñez said working with alumnas like Sythe is one of his greatest honors as a coach. As these players move on to the next level, their Ram roots run deep.
“As a program, we’re proud of her accomplishments. We’re her biggest fans,” Nuñez said on behalf of his staff. “She’s somebody we refer to when we talk about players that have come through our program, and she will continue to be an example of any Ram for years to come. Players come in and understand what the players who came before them have done, and I think that’s a motivation force to continue to do that.”
But for Sythe herself, the pride she carries goes beyond DeHaven Stadium. As she continues pushing through the rankings and leading Wake Forest as an upperclassman, Sythe said she will always remember her Long Beach community. Without the city behind her, she wouldn’t have been able to get to where she is today.
“I’ll forever be a Long Beach lover,” Sythe said. “I want to be that person and invest in the sports community and just the community as a whole because it’s really a lot of amazing people here. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything else.”
