PSAC Preseason Poll | 2015 Schedule | 2015 Roster | 2014 Statistics
 
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team has been picked to finish in sixth place this season in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the league office announced Wednesday as it unveiled the PSAC's Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
Slippery Rock has been the premiere program in the PSAC for nearly two decades. A perennial title contender, SRU has not had a losing year in the last 19 seasons, amassing 245 wins, 12 PSAC Tournament bids, nine NCAA Tournament berths and three regional-final appearances.
 
For the first time since 1995 a new head coach will be in charge of the program as Jessica Griggs replaces Noreen Herlihy, who left at the end of last season to become the head coach at the University of Akron. Griggs, who was the head coach at Northland College in 2014 and an assistant in the PSAC at Shippensburg University for the four seasons prior to that, completed her first coaching staff at Slippery Rock with the hiring of assistant coach Mark Sappington and graduate assistant Anne Kriskovich.
 
"I am looking forward to entering into the 2015 season with a strong returning squad as well as some quality additions," said Griggs. "Their preparations both on the field and in growing a championship attitude going into the preseason have been noticeable. I believe the outcome will be positive."
 
West Chester was picked as favorites to win the conference championship by the coaches followed by East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, California (Pa.), Gannon, The Rock, Edinboro, Shippensburg, Indiana (Pa.), Seton Hill, Bloomsburg, Millersville, Mercyhurst, Clarion, Lock Haven, Mansfield and Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Despite the change in leadership Slippery Rock returns a wealth of talent including seven players who started at least 10 contests a season ago. Included in that group are four previous All-PSAC selections and two former All-Americans in junior forward Andrea Felix and senior midfielder Allison Harbart.
 
The Forwards
SRU will enjoy a youth movement up front as four freshmen join veterans Felix and junior Dara Demich.
 
Felix was once again one of the top athletes in the conference a season ago; she led The Rock in points at 18 off of five goals and a team-high eight assists. For the season, Felix ranked fourth in the conference in assists and 12th in points. After just two seasons at The Rock Felix is already 13th in program history in career assists (13), 16th in points (43) and 18th in goals (15).
 
A top reserve in 2014, Demich appeared in 14 matches en route to a nine-point season thanks to three goals and three assists. Her 2.76 shots per game were the ninth most in the league. As a freshman in 2013, Demich supplied The Rock with one of the best offensive seasons in program history when she scored 11 goals and was credited with one assist.
 
Freshmen Julianna Esposito, Skye Kramer, Taylor Sweeney and Brooke Testa will all be making their collegiate debuts in 2015.  Two of the many accomplishments that the quartet achieved in high school include Esposito scoring a school-record 135 goals at Brockway High School and Testa earning her division's Player of the Year award after totaling 41 points as senior at Greece Athena High School.
 
The Midfielders
Slippery Rock's lone three seniors all occupy the midfield in Harbart, Caitlin Binder, and Crysta Ganter. Binder and Harbart were both recognized as third team All-PSAC performers as juniors.
 
Binder is coming off of a career-year in 2014 in which she registered personal-bests in goals (four), assists (four), points (12) and game-winning goals (three) over 18 contests while Harbart started all 15 matches she played and contributed one goal. Harbart enters the season having started a Rock-high 58 of her 59 collegiate appearances. Ganter has proven herself a reliable reserve over the last three seasons with five goals in 46 games.
 
Tess Keeley, SRU's lone foreign player, made an immediate impact as a freshman out of Pottsville, Australia in 2014 by scoring a team-high six goals and passing out five assists for 17 points; the second most on the team behind Felix. For her efforts she was named to the Daktronics Inc. All-Atlantic Region team.
 
Having started nine of her 14 games played and assisting on one score, Maddy Tletski also enjoyed a successful freshman season. Maddy Smith returns for her second season as well after playing in four games as a freshman.
 
New to The Rock's midfield this year is the freshmen trio of Emily Aldridge, Talia Suglia and Mariah Varner.
           
The Defense
Slippery Rock will have the luxury of returning three key pieces from a defensive backline that helped SRU register 11 shutouts and rank second in the PSAC in goals allowed per game (0.72).
 
Sophomore Haley Burkholder started all 18 games as a freshman, adding one assist in addition to her defensive efforts. Juniors Sam Thornton and Lynn Neef started 16 and 15 matches, respectively, with Thornton chipping in a goal and an assist offensively. Fellow junior Ariana Daukss was a top reserve, starting six of her nine contests played.
 
After seeing limited time as reserves in 2014, junior Megan Lenzi and sophomore Hannah Kengerski will challenge for increased playing time as well. Freshman Sarah Blue was also added to the already deep unit after a standout high school career at Medina High School in Medina, Ohio.
 
The Goalkeepers
Slippery Rock will be breaking in a first-year goalie regardless of who is named the starter between freshmen Kylie Downs and Charlotte Elrod.
 
Downs comes to SRU from Moon Area High School where she went 20-3 as a senior in 2014, earning all-section and All-Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League accolades following senior year.
 
Elrod graduated from Bayard Rustin High School as the school's all-time leader in shutouts with 13. She led Bayard Rustin to three divisional titles during her prep career.
 
The Schedule
Due to a mandated 16-game league schedule, Slippery Rock will only play two non-conference contests with season-opening games Sept. 3 at Notre Dame College and at home 1 p.m. Sept. 5 against Daemen College. Notre Dame, which won the Mountain East Conference and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, will provide a solid test for SRU early on.

After its non-conference games, Slippery Rock enters PSAC play with four consecutive home matches against Millersville (Sept. 11), Shippensburg (Sept. 12), rival California (Pa.) (Sept. 15) and Indiana (Pa.) (Sept. 19), California advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago and Griggs spent four years as an assistant coach at Shippensburg prior to her head coaching appointment at Northland College.
 
Following its five-match homestand, Slippery Rock takes to the road for a trio of contests against Mercyhurst (Sept. 23), Mansfield (Sept. 26) and Gannon (Sept. 29) before returning to Egli Field to play Bloomsburg (Oct. 3) and Pitt-Johnstown (Oct. 7).
 
Two of The Rock's next three games come against 2014 NCAA Tournament participants in East Stroudsburg (Oct. 10), the defending league champions, and West Chester (Oct. 17). A home match against Clarion (Oct. 13) is sandwiched between the ESU and WCU games.
 
Slippery Rock wraps up the regular season on a four-match road trip against Edinboro (Oct. 21), Lock Haven (Oct. 24), Seton Hill (Oct. 27) and Kutztown (Oct. 31).

2015 PSAC Preseason Coaches Poll
August 19, 2015

Rank	School
1.	West Chester
2.	East Stroudsburg
3.	Kutztown
T4.	California (Pa.)
T4.	Gannon
6.	SLIPPERY ROCK
7.	Edinboro
8.	Shippensburg
9.	Indiana (Pa.)
10.	Seton Hill
11.	Bloomsburg
12.	Millersville
13.	Mercyhurst
14.	Clarion
15.	Lock Haven
16.	Mansfield
17.	Pitt-Johnstown