ERIE — Penn State Behrend was supposed to be a temporary stop for Alex Bilka.

It’s become a home.

The Seneca Valley graduate planned to stay at the Erie-based school for two years before transferring to Penn State’s main campus. Her parents, James and Carmen Bilka, are Penn State graduates and coached the competitive cheerleading squads there.

Bilka’s older brother, Dylan, competed in track and field for two years at Behrend before transferring to Penn State’s main campus. He is a senior pole vaulter for the Nittany Lions in State College.

“We’re a Penn State family. My family has a house on the main campus, so it would have been perfect,” Bilka said. “But my plans changed.

“I came up here and fell in love with the school and the soccer program. This team has become family to me. No way was I leaving.”

The Lions are certainly happy she stayed.

A junior forward on the women’s soccer team, Bilka recently broke the Behrend career goal-scoring record. She has 43 goals — 15 this season — And owns the program’s career points record of 109.

Bilka is two assists away of breaking the career record in that category as well. She has 23.

“She’s just an outstanding player,” Behrend coach Patrick O’Driscoll said. “I’m in my 11th season here and Alex is probably the best player I’ve had.”

That’s saying something. The Lions (11-7, 7-2) are closing in on their fifth consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship.

Bilka said she never scored more than six goals in a season for Seneca Valley. She scored 13 her freshman year at Behrend and hasn’t slowed down since.

“When a young player finds early success like that, the opposition often times adjusts defensively to stop her and the numbers decline after a year or two,” O’Driscoll said. “That hasn’t happened with Alex. She just keeps getting stronger.

“People know her and they still can’t stop her. She’s big, strong and fast. And as she’s gotten older, she’s gotten soccer-smarter. She is extremely coachable.”

Bilka admitted to lacking confidence in high school when it came to soccer.

“That was such a good team and a number of players went Division I,” she said. “I was just a contributor in high school. I did what I could to help us win. But I never thought I’d ever be a big scorer.

“Setting all of those records here? No one is more surprised at that than I am.”

Behrend’s previous goal-scoring record of 42 stood for nine years. Holly Greiner — inducted into the Behrend Athletic Hall of Fame earlier this season — set the mark in 2006.

Bilka still has another year to play.

“She has a chance to post some astonishing totals here before she’s through,” O’Donnell said. “Alex is a really nice girls, a good person. She’s very humble. She credits her teammates for everything.

“But she is a true goal-scorer. She finishes chances her teammates provide for her. She can also beat players one-on-one on the dribble, so she creates her own chances and finishes those, too.”

Bilka learned early in life that it takes teamwork to win.

“I’ve had an advantage in that I’ve never played on a soccer team that wasn’t successful,” she said. “I know the value of team. What I’ve done individually is largely because of them.”

Bilka is majoring in the business field and carries a 3.2 grade point average.

“I’m one of the taller girls on the field and that helps me. I’ve learned to use that to my advantage,” Bilka said.

“My parents have always been a strong support system for me. They know what young athletes go through and they helped me overcome some obstacles when I was growing up. I’m grateful for that.

“Everything has been working out for me. I just hope it continues,” Bilka added.