Austin Player Blocks Ball With Face, Studio C And Scott Sterling Get Shoutout
Apr 16, 2025, 4:56 PM | Updated: 4:58 pm
VANCOUVER, CANADA - APRIL 12: Brian White #24 of Vancouver Whitecaps celebrates after scoring his third goal against the Austin FC during second half of their MLS match at BC Place on April 12, 2025 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)
(Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)
The legend of Scott Sterling, infamous Studio C character turned social media icon, lives on in the MLS as part of a wild goal from the Vancouver Whitecaps against Austin FC.
A wild scene in the box led to an outfielder defending the goal line, which turned into a sequence that the man, the myth, the legend, Scott Sterling would be proud of.
Brian White nailed Brendan Hines-Ike in the face to complete his hat trick 👀
(Scott Sterling anyone? 😂) pic.twitter.com/7LcXyxVAny
— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) April 13, 2025
Scott Sterling Sighting In The Vancouver Vs Austin Game
In the 59th minute, United States international Brian White had already scored twice, and his Whitecaps were now up on Austin 3-0.
The Whitecaps were once again on the attack as Emmanuel Sabbi charged with the ball down the left side of the penalty area toward the goal line.
Just before the ball went out of bounds, he crossed it towards the middle of the box. Two Austin FC players and a Vancouver player all converged on the ball, but it ended up landing at the feet of Daniel Ríos, who took a strong shot attempt, but only glanced the ball.
The Austin goalkeeper slid towards the ball, but Ranko Veselinović beat him to it, hitting the ball with the outside of his right foot towards the net, but unfortunately for Veselinović, it hit the post and bounced back into the middle of the box.
With the Austin goalkeeper out of the picture after sliding, Austin defender Brendan Hines-Ike planted himself on the goal line to defend.
The ball bounced perfectly off the post to Brian White, who was essentially unmarked and sent a rocket towards goal. Hines-Ike threw his head in the way of the ball in a last-ditch effort to clear the shot, but it ended up bouncing off his face, into the ground, and then into the back of the net for White’s hat trick.
Brian White completes the hat trick! 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/BeOUIX4SwH
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 13, 2025
The funny display of the ball bouncing off the face of the defender looked eerily similar to a certain Studio C skit, and the Whitecaps decided to pay homage by putting the Scott Sterling audio over a compilation of different angles of Brian White’s goal with the caption, “The man, the myth, the legend… Scott Sterling, is that you?”, an ode to the commentary from the sketch.
The man, the myth, the legend… Scott Sterling, is that you? #VWFC pic.twitter.com/huGUxrH9pW
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) April 15, 2025
Who Is Scott Sterling?
Scott Sterling is a fictional character from the popular BYUtv sketch comedy show Studio C, which still airs on the network.
In the original sketch, Scott Sterling, who is played by Matthew Meese, is the goalkeeper of the Yale soccer team, who is in a penalty shootout with North Carolina in the College Cup.
In the first round of the shootout, Sterling dives to his right, blocking the penalty attempt with his face, and every shot thereafter, no matter how hard he tried, found a way to bounce off his face, getting more battered throughout.
For the game-winning save, Sterling crawled away from the goal with the hopes of getting as far away from the shot as possible, but it still ricocheted off the crossbar and into his face.
The skit, which was posted 10 years ago, caught internet fire, racking up 95 million views on YouTube alone. Now, anytime anyone takes a ball to the face in a sporting event, the name Scott Sterling always comes up.
