SLIPPERY ROCK - Robin Craig will admit it. It's no secret for her.

Playing goalkeeper, while challenging and important, wasn't all that stimulating.

"Goalie is fun and everything," said Craig, a senior on the Slippery Rock High School girls soccer team. "Sometimes I'd get kind of bored out there."

Craig is finding life on the soccer field a lot more exciting these days after a move out of goal and into the fray.

Craig is now a forward-midfielder for the Rockets - a move spurred by the desire of coach Blair Gantz to press the action more and get some extra oomph into an offense that struggled early in the season.

"It was a difficult decision to pull her out (of goal)," Gantz said. "She's really given us a spark."

In her first game out of the shadow of her own goal, Craig scored three times in a win over Conneaut Valley.

She has scored a hat trick in another game and has scored total nine goals as the Rockets are now 5-2-1 overall and 3-0-1 in the region.

It was an expected level of production, even from Craig, who just started playing soccer again last year.

"It was pretty exciting," Craig said. "When I scored my first goal it was like, 'Oh my gosh. I just scored.'"

It was Craig's first goal since she was an 11-year-old.

She quit soccer to focus on basketball, which is her first love. Craig was on the cross country team her freshman and sophomore years.

But soccer players Liz Bicehouse and Beth Reefer began urging Craig to come out for soccer. Both knew the Rockets needed a reliable goalkeeper to compliment a potent offense led by Reefer.

"I pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in cross country," Craig said. "Beth and Liz were like, 'You should come out for soccer.'"

Craig's basketball background made her a natural for the goalkeeper position. She had quick feet and hands and a simple philosophy.

"It's really not all that complicated," Craig said. "You basically just stop the ball from going in."

That simple philosophy helped the Rockets to the playoffs last season, where they were beaten in the first round.

This year, Craig planned on minding the net again until an early season scoring slump led Gantz to ponder the switch.

Also contributing to the position change was an injury to the Rockets' top defensive player, Jen Badget, who is out for the season with a knee injury.

"We lost our best defensive player and our most aggressive player," Gantz said. "We needed to get more pressure on offense."

Craig wasn't sure how well she would adjust to life in the middle of the action. She hadn't played in the field for several years.

"My field skills are not as sharp," Craig said. "I was really surprised I could even score. It's been pretty good.

"I kind of like it. It spices it up a little bit."

Craig, though, might find herself shuffling from forward to goalkeeper, depending on the opponent.

Allison Perry has acquitted herself well in goal since the change, but against some of the tougher region opponents, Gantz might use Craig as goalkeeper.

Craig is prepared.

"I go in to every game and ask, 'Blair, where am I tonight?'" Craig said. "I always bring both (my game jersey and goalie jersey) to the game."