SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University Soccer Ring of Honor will welcome six new members with the induction of the Class of 2023 at the 10th annual induction ceremony Sept. 15.
 
The Class of 2023 includes:
 
• Tobias Bowser (class of 2014)
• Blair Gantz (class of 2002)
• Juliana Mione (class of 2011)
• Anthony Paganie (class of 2011)
• Thomas Priester (class of 1962)
• The 1974 Men's Soccer Team
 
The 10th annual induction ceremony will take place Friday at the Russell Wright Alumni House & Conference Center. The day's festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail hour followed by opening remarks and dinner at 6:30 p.m.
 
The induction class will then be recognized during halftime of Saturday's women's soccer game against Indiana University (Pa.) (12 p.m.) and men's game versus Shippensburg University (3 p.m.) at James Egli Field.
  
The addition of the six-member Class of 2023 increases the number of Ring of Honor inductees to 80 since the inaugural class was inducted in 2011.
 
The following are brief profiles of members of the Ring of Honor Class of 2023, listed in alphabetical order.

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TOBIAS BOWSER
Graduation Year: 2014
 
Tobias (Toby) Bowser was a four-year starter and one of the best initiators of offense in Slippery Rock men's soccer history.
 
Soccer was a staple of the Bowser family. A native of Worthington, Pennsylvania, Toby followed in the footsteps of his brothers Chris and Sean by playing club soccer for the Northern Steel, which was coached by SRU head coach Matt Thompson.
 
Bowser elected to continue to play for Thompson on the collegiate level as he committed to Slippery Rock in 2007. Toby was an impact player from the second he set foot on campus. Over his four-year career, Bowser started 72 of his 80 games played and recorded 38 career points on four goals and 30 assists.
 
SRU achieved winning records in all four years of Bowser's career with the highlights being two NCAA Tournament appearances, a PSAC title in 2009 that included a single-season program record 18 victories.
 
Bowser ranks second in program history in career assists, third in games played and fifth in games started. His 15 assists in 2008 are also tied for the most in a single-season in Slippery Rock's storied history. Toby had his play recognized by earning all-region honors three times and being named an honorable mention All-American in 2008.
 
At the conclusion of his time at The Rock, Toby continued his soccer career at Kingston University in England. In addition to majoring in graphic design at Slippery Rock, Bowser also joined the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
 
Toby volunteered for his first deployment to Bagram, Afghanistan in 2013. He was responsible for reuniting fallen heroes with their families. This life changing moment motivated Toby to pursue a career in aviation.
 
In 2018, Toby graduated from the United States Air Force Officer Training School at the top of his class earning him the Distinguished Graduate Award. After graduation he was sent to Columbus, Mississippi for Air Force Flight School. Upon graduation, Toby was given the Air Force Flight Training Award for being a top aviator in his class.
 
His second deployment came shortly after graduation and after his return home he started his civilian career with Republic Airways.

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BLAIR GANTZ
Graduation Year: 2002
 
In the infancy of the Slippery Rock University women's soccer program, Blair Gantz was one of its first great athletes.
 
Before coming to Slippery Rock, Gantz was a three-sport star at Lampeter Strasburg High School. In addition to being named the Lancaster-Lebanon League MVP and earning Pennsylvania Soccer Association all-state honors in soccer, Blair earned league, county and state medals in track as a sprinter, as well as holding school records in basketball for assists and steals as a point guard in addition to serving as Lampeter Strasburg's class president.
 
Gantz was the first female at Lampeter Strasburg High School to earn a varsity letter as a junior on the boys' soccer team.
 
At SRU, Gantz played in 65 games on the way to totaling 59 points on 20 goals and 19 assists. She helped to lead The Rock to a 43-25-2 record. A team captain, three-time All-PSAC West honoree and two-time all-region choice, Gantz still ranks seventh at The Rock in career assists.
 
After earning her undergraduate degree in community health science and graduate degree in student affairs in higher education, Gantz continued her playing career for three seasons as a member of the Steel City Sparks in the Women's Premier Soccer League.
 
Following her playing career, Gantz embarked on a 25-year coaching career throughout all levels of the sport including the WPSL, college, high school and club competition.
 
Along with her coaching profession, she is also a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Gantz has been the sole owner of Elite Performance Training LLC since 2010. In addition to those certifications, she also holds an NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma as well as an NSCAA Premier Coaching License.
 
Currently Blair is a head coach and Phase Leader at Steel City FC in Pittsburgh as well as the Business/Program Coordinator at Pine Richland Youth Center in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania.

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JULIANA MIONE
Graduation Year: 2011
 
Juliana (Howell) Mione was a four-year standout for Slippery Rock during one of the winningest stretches in program history between 2007-10.
 
Mione started 37 of her 69 games played during her career. She recorded 27 points on 10 goals and seven assists while attempt 39 shots on goal. Mione's many accomplishments include recording five game-winning goals, being a four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete and scoring the quickest goal to start a game in program history (46 seconds vs. Wheeling Jesuit).
 
All told, Mione helped to lead Slippery Rock to four consecutive winning seasons, 56 victories, three NCAA Tournament appearances and a PSAC West championship in 2007. SRU finished the 2007 season ranked No. 22 in the nation. The Rock was also nationally ranked, No. 23, at the conclusion of Mione's senior year in 2010.
 
An elementary / early childhood education major, Mione graduated magna cum laude from Slippery Rock in 2011. Following graduation, Mione moved to Delaware where she was a kindergarten teacher for three years. Along with her husband Tony, a C17 Air Force pilot, Juliana moved to Florida for two years before returning to Delaware in 2016.
 
Mione stayed involved with soccer following her graduation by coaching U-8 and U-12 girls' club soccer teams for the Central Delaware Soccer Association and later the Coastal Atlantic Futbol Club before stepping away from coaching. She owns a National D Coaching License.
 
Mione currently resides in Delaware with her husband and two children – Rowan and Reese – and is the lead teacher, an administrator and phonics teacher for little school at Kids Cottage in Dover, Delaware.

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ANTHONY PAGANIE
Graduation Year: 2011

After graduating from Ambridge High School and attending the Community College of Beaver County for a year, Anthony Paganie joined the Slippery Rock men's soccer program in 2008 as a 20-year old walk on and proceeded to start 49 of 60 games played over the next three years.
 
As one of the centerpieces of the Slippery Rock roster over his three-year career, Paganie helped to lead SRU to a stellar 43-18-3 record while wearing the Green and White.
 
Included in all the victories were two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009 in addition to a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship in 2009. SRU closed the 2008 season ranked No. 18 in the nation while the 2009 team, which won a single-season program record 18 games, ended the year as the No. 12 team in Division II.
 
At the conclusion of his career, Paganie compiled 29 points on eight goals and 13 assists while scoring four game-winning goals and placing 34 of his 70 shots on target. Paganie was a team captain in both 2009 and 2010.
 
Not just a standout on the field, Anthony was also a three-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete and a 2010 CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree.
 
Anthony graduated from Slippery Rock in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education and a minor in aquatics. Since 2013, Anthony has been a sales manager for the Frank Fuhrer Wholesale Company
 
Paganie has four children – sons Steffan and Rocky as well as daughters Camilla and Rosalie, who is due in October. Anthony and his wife Brenda married in 2017. 

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THOMAS PRIESTER
Graduation Year: 1962
 
Tom Priester's name is synonymous with success. Already a member of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame, the North East High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Section VI (NY) Athletic Hall of Fame, Priester's induction into the SRU Ring of Honor is yet another testament to a brilliant career in athletics.
 
Born in 1939, Tom was a multi-sport athlete at North East High School before coming to Slippery Rock University where he was a four-year member of the men's soccer team. As a senior in 1961, he received two All-America nominations.
 
Following his collegiate career, Priester embarked on a storied 45-year coaching tenure at Southwestern High School in Jamestown, New York. Priester coached multiple sports at Southwestern including cross country, track & field, tennis, volleyball and bowling.
 
He guided the Southwestern boy's cross country team to Division I championships in 2000, 2001 and 2005. On the girl's side, Priester led Southwestern to league titles from 1985-87 and again in 1989. He also won sectional championships in 1973 and 2005.
 
Priester's overall cross country record was 410-255, not counting invitational meets. He had 28 different runners compete in the state championships including two-time state champion Brian Hull (1973-74). Tom was named the CCAA Boys Cross Country Coach of the Year as well as the All-Western New York Boys Coach of the Year in 2005.
 
Tom has also distinguished himself as an outstanding track & field official. A USA Track & Field official since 1985, Tom has officiated NCAA Division I, II, and III track & field championship meets and also national and international meets, including the Olympic Trials.
 
Priester and his wife Susan have two children, Shannon and Dayne, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

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1974 MEN'S SOCCER TEAM
Simply put, the 1974 Slippery Rock men's soccer team was one of the greatest collections of talent in program history.
 
Led by legendary head coach Jim Egli, Slippery Rock was nearly perfect in 1974 with a 17-1-1 record that was capped off by a 2-1 double overtime victory against East Stroudsburg to earn the school's first PSAC Championship since 1954 as well as a NAIA District 18 title following a 3-1 win against Frostburg State.
 
The only blemishes on an otherwise perfect schedule were a loss to Davis & Elkins College in the NAIA Area Six title game and a tie against the University of Pittsburgh.
 
Slippery Rock rolled through its competition, scoring an impressive 76 goals (4.0 per game) while allowing just 24 (1.4 per game). Included in the year were six shutouts and eight games with five or more goals scored.
 
The 17 wins stood as the program record for victories in a single-season for 35 years and still ranks second all-time at The Rock. The 1974 team still ranks second at SRU for goals scored in a season, eighth in assists (35) and 10th in shutouts. Additionally, the 1974 team set a still-standing program record unbeaten streak of 17 games.
 
Kamal Houari, Art Rex and Gary Sphar were named All-Americans to lead the individual accolades following the dominant campaign. Since then, four of the student-athletes from the 1974 team – along with Egli – have been individually enshrined into the SRU Ring of Honor.






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