Roster  |  Schedule  |  2024 Statistics
 
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. — The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team earned one first-place vote and landed second in the 2025 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division preseason coaches' poll, the conference office announced Tuesday.
 
Defending division champion Gannon was picked to repeat in the PSAC West after garnering seven first-place votes followed in the top four by The Rock, Indiana (Pa.) and Seton Hill.
 
The back half of the PSAC West poll featured Pitt-Johnstown in fifth place with California (Pa.), Edinboro and Clarion rounding out the prognostication.
 
In the Eastern Division, reigning PSAC and Atlantic Region champions Shepherd took seven of nine first-place votes to come in first place followed by West Chester, Kutztown, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Shippensburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield.
 
Slippery Rock returns five starters and five others who appeared in at least five games a season ago, but an entirely new coaching staff will be tasked with replacing 65.7 percent of its goal production as well as two all-conference defenders from the 2024 team.

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME?
The Slippery Rock women's soccer program underwent a change in leadership in the offseason after Jessica Giegucz left SRU to become the head coach at Duquesne following a 10-year stint at The Rock in which she went 104-48-24 (.659) with nine PSAC Tournament berths and one conference title.
 
Slippery Rock turned to a familiar face for Giegucz's replacement as Noreen Herlihy agreed to return to The Rock to guide the program that she by and large crafted into what is today.
 
Herlihy originally came to Slippery Rock in the program's infancy in 1995 - just the third year of varsity soccer at SRU. She went on to build The Rock into the premiere program in the Atlantic Region over the following 20 seasons, compiling a 250-113-30 (.674) overall record with nine NCAA Tournament appearances, 12 PSAC Tournament berths, three conference tournament titles and three PSAC Coach of the Year citations.
 
Herlihy left Slippery Rock prior to 2015 season for the Akron. After leading the Zips to three Mid-America Conference Tournament appearances she returned to the PSAC West in 2022 at IUP – a program which had not had a winning record since 2017 – and guided the Crimson Hawks for three seasons culminating with an NCAA Tournament bid in 2024 and ultimately an 11-3-4 record.
 
Joining Herlihy on the sidelines this season will be assistant coach Nicole Krueger and graduate assistant Katharina Bilz.
 
No stranger to The Rock in her own right, Krueger is an SRU alumna who appeared in 65 games and totaled 34 points (13 goals / 8 assists) over a four-year career (2011-14). Bilz embarks on her coaching path after a playing career that saw her start 40 games at Akron and earn all-region honors in her final season under Herlihy at IUP.

HIGH STANDARDS
Slippery Rock is coming off a 9-6-4 showing in 2024 that finished in a close 5-4 loss to Shepherd in the PSAC Tournament semifinals.
 
Slippery Rock has now tallied winning records in 28 consecutive years in which a full season was played as well as earning 14 straight PSAC Tournament berths.
 
Across the Atlantic Region there are only four other programs with 10 or more active stretches of consecutive winning seasons in West Chester (28), Kutztown (22), Gannon (13) and East Stroudsburg (12).

YOUTH MOVEMENT AT THE ROCK
Slippery Rock enters the 2025 preseason with a 33-athlete roster. Of those 33, 19 are underclassmen (13 freshmen / six sophomores) and 24 have made fewer than 10 appearances in a collegiate soccer match.
 
STILL SOME VETERAN LEADERSHIP AROUND
While on field experience is at a premium on the roster to start the 2025 season, Slippery Rock does bring back a handful of key returners In senior defender / midfielder Libby Zacharyasz (56 games played), junior goalkeeper Leah Allman (38), junior midfielder Bailey McGee (32), senior defender Sydney Smith (26), junior midfielder Sophia Palermo (26) and junior midfielder / forward Lindsey Price (26).
 
Additionally, senior forward Abigail Koly comes to The Rock with 29 games of Division I experience between Bowling Green and Akron while also being a current member of Puerto Rico's senior national team.

HERLIHY OPENS 2025 23rd ON D2 WINS LIST
Already the winningest coach in PSAC history, Herlihy heads into the season ranked 23rd on Division II's career wins ledger with 305. Herlihy, the 14th winningest active coach in Division II, is four victories away from passing Ali Omar (Winona State / 1995-16) for 22nd place. Herlihy is among the best of the best on virtually every NCAA wins list.
 
Herlihy's NCAA Ranks
Active (D2): 14th
Active (All Divisions): 57th
All-Time (D2): 23rd
All-Time (All Divisions): 116th (out of 3,998 coaches in NCAA database)

SENIOR CLASS
A veteran of 56 career games played, Zacharyasz highlights what figures to be a strong senior class. She is coming off a banner year in 2024 in which she netted third team all-region and first team All-PSAC West recognition.
 
Zacharyasz did not miss a single minute of play last season, totaling six points from three goals while ranking second on the team with 41 total shots. The defensive midfielder from Strongsville, Ohio was difficult to defend, possessing the ability to threaten both on the attack as well as in the defensive third for The Rock.
 
Smith broke out as a junior after seeing limited action in her first two years on campus. A starter in all 19 games, Smith averaged 85.5 minutes per game throughout the year, produced one assist all the while playing the full 90 minutes 13 times and playing every available minute for Slippery Rock in the PSAC Tournament.
 
Brianna Matteson has been one of two backup goalies behind Allman over the last two years while midfielders Briona Rice and Leah Walter have combined to play in 15 games during their careers.
 
The two newest members of this year's senior class are Koly and defender/forward Marissa Salisbury.
 
Koly began her collegiate career at Bowling Green, appearing in 17 games as a freshman in 2022 with five points on two goals and one assist before moving on to Akron for the 2023 and 2024 seasons that included playing in 12 games for the Zips in 2023. Salisbury meanwhile is a former West Virginia University commit.  

JUNIOR CLASS
Allman has served as The Rock's starting goalie for each of the last two years. Not only has she started all 38 games over 2023 and 2024, Allman has been on the field for 3,399 of a possible 3,422 minutes over that time. A year ago, Allman made 76 saves, totaled eight shutouts while holding a .784 save percentage and 1.09 GAA. She heads into her junior season ranked fifth in program history for shutouts in a career, seventh in wins and ninth in saves.
 
The Rock's top returning goal scorer, Palermo started all 18 games she played a season ago on the way to posting 13 points courtesy of five goals and three assists while tallying a team-best 24 shots on goal.
 
McGee was in the midst of a career year prior to suffering a season-ending injury during The Rock's 13th game of 2024. McGee, who started every game prior to her season concluding, finished last season ranked fourth for SRU in total points with 12 on four goals and four assists.
 
Price has established herself as a steady presence off Slippery Rock's bench to begin her collegiate career with 26 appearances, along with one goal, during her freshman and sophomore years.
 
After not appearing in a game during her freshman season in 2023, Irene Doleno made eight appearances for SRU a year ago with her first collegiate start coming in Slippery Rock's PSAC Tournament semifinal bout at Shepherd.
 
Forward Allie Burns and goalkeeper Allie Burkholder round out The Rock's returning juniors. Neither appeared in a game last season.

SOPHOMORE CLASS
Despite the coaching transition, Slippery Rock retained its entire rookie class from a season ago.
 
Among the sophomore class, defender/midfielder Kierstyn Maxey earned the most playing time as a rookie after starting six of her 12 appearances for 501 minutes of game time. Maxey, who started five of the final six games of the season, tallied one assist while placing two of her five shots as a rookie on target.
 
Midfielder Libby Earley and defender Jordyn Constable combined to make five starts over the month of September before moving into reserve roles over the remainder of their rookie years while midfielder Chloe Flynn served as a backup in each of her three appearances.
 
Forwards Sam Braden and Kate Lasker are also back for their second years inside the program after not appearing in a game during their rookie campaigns.

FRESHMEN CLASS
The 2025 roster includes one of the largest freshmen classes in program history as 13 athletes will be experiencing collegiate soccer for the first time. The last time SRU had more freshmen on its roster was in 2009 (14).
 
2025 SRU Freshmen Class
Name-Position-Hometown (in Pennsylvania unless noted)
Lilia Battalini – Forward – Beaver
Mia Cariola – Defender – Rochester, New York
Kylie Dutkovich – Defender – Pittsburgh
Kate Hillegas – Forward – Pittsburgh
Alyson Kaley – Defender – Reinholds
Miley Kariotis – Midfielder – Lower Burrell
Abby Paterline – Defender/Midfielder/Forward – Murrysville
Kailyn Schulte – Defender – Bath, Ohio
Aubrey Seder – Midfielder – Scottdale
Lillian Snyder – Defender/Midfielder – Coraopolis
Maggie Soehnlen – Midfielder – Canton, Ohio
Eden Williams – Midfielder – Murrysville
Abigail Wolfe – Defender/Midfielder – Greencastle

2025 SCHEDULE
Slippery Rock's 2025 schedule includes its always-challenging 14-game PSAC West round-robin slate as well as a pair of non-conference games against two quality opponents.
 
SRU's 2025 season officially begins with back-to-back road games Sept. 6 at No. 16 Ashland and Sept. 10 at Frostburg State. Both teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament a year ago with AU going 17-2-2 and FSU finishing at 15-4-2.
 
Following its two non-conference games, Slippery Rock embarks on its PSAC West schedule. If Slippery Rock finishes the regular season in the top five spots of the PSAC West standings, The Rock will compete in their 15th consecutive PSAC Tournament beginning Nov. 8.
 
2025 Slippery Rock women's soccer schedule:
No. 16 Ashland (Sept. 6: Away)
Frostburg State (Sept. 10: Away)
Edinboro (Sept. 13: Home | Oct. 18: Away)
California (Pa.) (Sept. 20: Away | Oct. 11: Home)
Clarion (Sept. 24: Home | Oct. 29: Away)
Indiana (Pa.) (Sept. 27: Away | Oct. 22: Home)
No. 10 Gannon (Oct. 1: Away | Nov. 1: Home)
Pitt-Johnstown (Oct. 4: Home | Oct. 25: Away)
Seton Hill (Oct. 8: Away | Nov. 5: Home)
 
Schedule notes
• All home games will be played at Egli Field other than SRU's Oct. 22 home tilt vs. IUP which will be played under the lights of Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
• In the last six years, Slippery Rock has put together an impressive 37-8-12 (.754) record at home.
• Only three of The Rock's first nine games of the year will be played at home.
• Breast Cancer Awareness Game / Alumni Day: Oct. 4 vs. Pitt-Johnstown
• Senior Day: Oct. 11 vs. California
• Youth Soccer Day: Nov. 1 vs. Gannon
 
2025 PSAC Preseason Coaches' Poll
First-place votes in parentheses
West Division
1) Gannon (7)
2) THE ROCK (1)
3) IUP
4) Seton Hill
5) Pitt-Johnstown
6) California (Pa.)
7) Edinboro
8) Clarion
 
East Division
1) Shepherd (7)
2) West Chester (1)
3) Kutztown (1)
4) Bloomsburg
5) East Stroudsburg
6) Millersville
7) Shippensburg
8) Lock Haven
9) Mansfield




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