Slippery Rock University Athletics

The Slippery Rock University women’s soccer program has come a long way in a relatively short time.
In the span of 15 seasons, the Green and White have secured a position of prominence in state, regional and national competition.

The past seven seasons are but a microcosm of The Rock’s meteoric rise to the top.

Since 2001, The Rock women’s program has averaged 13.5 wins per season and has made six straight appearances in the PSAC playoffs. During that span, the team has received four NCAA regional tournament berths, claimed three PSAC regular season titles and two tournament championships.

SRU made a sixth straight trip the PSAC playoffs in 2008. Three of those trips came after SRU had claimed a PSAC regular-season title and two of the campaigns culminated in a conference playoff crown.

The Rock also made its fourth trip to NCAA Division II regional competition in 2008, following up on a 2007 season that finished with a best-ever 17-5-1 campaign.

The Rock women’s program was founded in 1993 with the hiring of Erika Lutwin as the first head coach.

As expected, The Rock experienced the growing pains associated with a neophyte program.

The Rock won only six games in its first two seasons and 11 in the initial three campaigns.

The tide quickly turned, though, as the 1996 squad – the fourth fielded by The Rock and second coached by Noreen Herlihy – compiled a 14-5 record that stood until 2003 as the best record in the program’s history.

Herlihy’s leadership efforts did not go unnoticed. She was recognized by her peers as the 1996 PSAC “Coach of the Year.”

The 2001 squad matched the win total of the 1996 team, then went three steps farther when it received the first-ever NCAA Division II postseason berth, recorded the first national playoff victory and earned the first regional-final berth.

The 2001 season was also a significant one for Herlihy personally. She recorded her 100th career win on Sept. 16, 2001, during a sweep of a women’s/men’s doubleheader against PSAC rival Shippensburg.

A year earlier, in 2000, The Rock took its first step into postseason competition when it earned a berth in the PSAC playoffs.

Three seasons later, The Rock won its first-ever PSAC regular-season and playoff titles en route to a 15-3-2 final record that, at the time, stood as the most victories in school history, and a berth in the NCAA playoffs.

In recognition of her coaching efforts that season, Herlihy received her second PSAC “Coach of the Year” honor and was named as the NSCAA regional “Coach of the Year.”

Herlihy and The Rock successfully defended their regular-season title in the newly-created Western Division in 2004 and earned a berth in the conference semifinals. The season ended on a sour note, though, as The Rock was inexplicably denied in its quest for a second successive berth in the NCAA playoffs.

The 10th-anniversary, 2004 season also saw Herlihy’s squad achieve a best-ever No. 3 regular-season ranking in the Oct. 5 National Soccer Coaches Association of America national poll.

The Rock returned to the pinnacle of PSAC success in 2005, when it won the conference championship. But, for the second successive season, The Rock had the door to the NCAA tournament slammed on its fingers.

The sour taste of disappointment was washed away by receipt of NCAA berths in both 2006 and 2007.

The 2007 campaign stands as the program’s best ever as the Green and White recorded a school-record 17 wins and achieved a school-record-tying No. 3 ranking in the NSCAA national poll.

In terms of individual talent, the high-water mark was established in 2003 when Sarah Arsenault concluded her collegiate career.

Arsenault ended her career as The Rock’s all-time leading scorer with 70 goals, 21 assists and 161 points. She earned first-team NSCAA All-America honors in 2003, back-to-back PSAC “Athlete of the Year” awards in 2003 and 2004, four straight first-team All-PSAC honors, three first-team all-region merits and the PSAC “Rookie of the Year” award in 2001.

Arsenault is one of only two Rock players who have earned first-team All-America honors. She shares that distinction with Meghan McGrath, who was also honored in 2003.

McGrath rung down the curtain on her own success-laden career in 2007. She holds the school record for career assists and stands second in both career points and goals scored.

Prior to the arrival of Arsenault and McGrath on the SRU campus, the torch-bearer for Rock women’s soccer was Sonya Maher.

A former member of the Irish National Team, Maher scored 40 goals and had 23 assists for 103 points. She ranks second in all three career categories.

Maher was the first women’s soccer player to receive All-America honors; she was named to the NSCAA third team in 1999.

Maher was also the first player in Rock women’s soccer history to earn first-team all-region and PSAC honors in all four collegiate seasons. McGrath matched that effort in 2007.

Maureen Ennis, like Maher a native of Ireland, became The Rock’s second All-American in 2001 when she earned second-team honors.

Maher was the catalyst to The Rock’s success in the mid-to-late-1990s, which set the stage for SRU’s rise to the upper echelon of competition.

The Maher-led 1996 squad came within a win of earning the first-ever berth to the PSAC playoffs. A 3-0 loss to East Stroudsburg in the final conference game of the season denied SRU of the coveted postseason berth.

Four seasons later, in 2000, The Rock broke through the barrier. A 1-0 win on SRU’s James W. Egli Soccer Field over top-ranked Lock Haven in the season finale secured the elusive first-ever PSAC playoff berth.

A 1-0 loss in Lock Haven two days after the regular-season upset win over the Lady Eagles in 2000 denied The Rock its first PSAC playoff win.

The 2003, 10th anniversary team took the program to the top of the PSAC and into the national playoffs.

The 2003 Rock squad won the PSAC regular-season title and added the postseason crown by virtue of 5-2 and 4-3 wins over Millersville and Lock Haven, respectively, in playoff action on Egli Field.

SRU’s subsequent second trip to NCAA regional competition ended with a 3-0 loss to PSAC rival West Chester in semifinal action.

The Rock successfully defended its PSAC regular-season title in 2004 when it claimed the Western Division crown. A 1-0 loss to Indiana U. of Pa. in the conference semifinals and a subsequent snub by the NCAA selection committee put a damper on the season.

The Rock finished second in the 2005 PSAC-West regular-season competition but avenged a regular-season loss to division champion Indiana by scoring a 1-0 win in conference semifinal action. That win, sandwiched between a 4-1 triumph over Edinboro and a 1-0 victory at Kutztown, catapulted the program to its second conference title in three seasons.

Slippery Rock claimed the PSAC-West regular season title again in 2007 en route to a berth in the conference finals at West Chester. The Rock, after knocking off then-No. 5-ranked WCU in a regular-season meeting, lost a pair of postseason decisions to the Golden Rams, 2-0 in the PSAC title game and 1-0 in an NCAA regional semifinal game.

Sandwiched between the losses to West Chester was a 2-0 win over Adelphi in first-round action.

A dozen years ago, Rock faithful probably didn’t even dream about the conference, let alone the national playoffs. Now, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that SRU will be a postseason participant.

If the past is any indication, the best is yet to come.