Soccer adds 5 recruits, including 100-goal scorer

The Edinboro women’s soccer team recently announced some of their newest members. They’re losing one senior from their 2018 squad, but have had five players sign letters of intent to come to Edinboro next year.

Emily Harvey is a forward for Penn Cambria and she recently reached 100 goals in her high school career.

Head Women’s Soccer Coach Gary Kagiavas addressed Harvey’s career milestone: “That certainty is a lot of goals. We don’t expect her to come in and score 100 goals here, but we’re certainly going to, hopefully, expect her to score some goals.

“She’s one of those kids we were looking for and we got lucky I think, she kind of liked it here so we lucked out on that,” Kagiavas added. 

Audrey Taylor played for Empire United with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy this past season after playing her first two years of high school soccer at Fredonia.

“[She] can play center back and center forward, and depending on what our needs are she might be playing forward for us,” Kagiavas said of Taylor. “We’ve got to see when she comes in and how everything adapts.” 

Elizabeth Schultz was one of the leading scorers in her conference for her high school, Brush, and she was an honorable mention for the Greater Cleveland Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association. She had six goals and seven assists. 

Schultz has mostly played as a midfielder, but Kagiavas suggested that she may end up as a defender at ‘Boro. “I think [that could be], because we like to send our defenders forward. So she might be that kid.” 

“She’s extremely quick, but we’ve got to find a role for her, and we know that she’ll do well here,” Kagiavas added. 

The women’s team has also picked up a much-needed goalkeeper in Maddie Sleva. Sleva was the starter for Moon Area High School. They were back-to-back PIAA champions from 2016-2017. 

“Obviously going into any season with one goalkeeper is not a very promising thing,’’ Kagiavas said of having one keeper last season. “So we’re excited for [Sleva’s signing] and she’s a good keeper for that. She’s a great kid, so again it’ll give Anna [Voelker] some kind of opportunities to not get so beat up at practice.”

Jayna Galley is a forward that made the all-star team in her conference her junior year, awarded by The Buffalo News. She also participates in track, where she was in the pentathlon, competing in the New York State Track and Field Championship the past three years.

Kagiavas said there were still some recruits who had not signed, so more announcements about the future of his team could be coming in the future.

Erica Burkholder can be reached at  sports.spectator@gmail.com.

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