In all the years that the women’s soccer program has existed at Gannon University, no one has scored more in a Knight uniform than senior forward Amanda Sharbaugh.
In Thursday’s season opener, Gannon hosted Wheeling Jesuit University to kick off the first-ever Gannon University Classic, a four-team tournament that also included squads from Edinboro and Ashland universities.
Just 30 minutes into the contest, Sharbaugh struck first for Gannon to put the Knights up 1-0. With that goal, the Sarver, Pa., native scored the 35th goal of her collegiate career, surpassing former player Erin Cray for most career goals.
Gannon wasted little time in getting comfortable with the early lead as freshman midfielder Justine Rodrigues scored her first career goal minutes later to push Gannon’s lead to 2-0.
Sharbaugh recorded another goal to add to her recently shattered record to put the Knights up 3-1 in the second half. They held on to win the game by that tally.
Sharbaugh wasn’t done, though. The tournament continued Saturday as Gannon faced Ashland in what turned out to be a low-scoring game.
With just over 10 minutes left to play in the game and the two teams still scoreless, Sharbaugh tapped in a cross from freshman forward Michelle Genetin to record Gannon’s lone goal. The Eagles never were able to counter from that and the Knights moved to 2-0, their best start since 2008.
With the goal, Sharbaugh also surpassed Cray’s all-time career point mark with the 92nd of her career.
The game was also senior goalkeeper Maggie Brinkman’s first career shutout.
Gannon will continue its home stand when it plays host to Mansfield at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Gannon University Field.
