SLIPPERYROCK — Winning is nothing new to Noreen Herlihy.

She's not exactly getting tired of it, either.

Now in her 13th season as the Slippery Rock University women's soccer coach, Herlihy has visions of taking the program further than ever before.

"I've had opportunities to move on, but chose not to pursue them,"Herlihy said. "I'm very happy and proud of the program I've built here.

"There are still things we're working toward accomplishing here and I still feel like I have the ability and passion to get it done."

Herlihy has guided The Rock women's soccer team to at least the PSACtournament semifinals in each of the past five seasons. The team has won at least 10 games in 11 of her 13 seasons.

SRUwon PSACtitles in 2003 and 2005 and reached the finals this year, losing to West Chester, 2-0.

West Chester is two-time PSACchampion and reached the NCAA Division IIFinal Four last year.

"We beat them two weeks ago and were competitive in that last game ... and we didn't play our best soccer that last time," Herlihy said. "That shows me we can get to the Final Four.

"It's a tough task, of course. In soccer, you can play a great game, give up one goal and lose. It's a funny 'ole game that way."

During her years at SRU, Herlihy was named PSACCoach of the Year in 1996 and 2003. She's had the conference's player of the year in four of the past five seasons, Sarah Arsenault (2003-04), Julie Kirwan (2005) and Megan McGrath (2007), and has had 25 players earn first team all-conference honors.

SRUwomen's soccer has existed as a varsity program only since 1993. In Herlihy's second season here in 1996, Sonya Maher became the program's first all-conference, all-region and all-American player.

The Rock was ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation this season.

Megan Jessee, SRU's graduate assistant coach, graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2006 and was a soccer teammate of Butler graduate Meghan Schnur there.

"Coach Herlihy is well-respected by her players and she understands the game,"Jessee said. "She's put together a system here that works and the players believe in it."

While Slippery Rock has had teams with big goal scorers, Arsenault, for example, this year's team enters Friday's 1 p.m. Northeast Regional first-round game vs. Adelphi in West Chester sporting a 16-4-1 record and with 12 players scoring between one and 10 goals.

McGrath leads The Rock with 10 goals and five assists, ranking third in the PSACscoring race. Alison Hindley has nine goals and Danielle Cooper eight.

"Depth has been the key to this team,"Herlihy said. "We have players on the bench who are capable of starting. When we sub players in, our quality of play doesn't drop off.

"Everyone on the team understands her role and accepts it. They trust my decisions."

Two Butler County players, sophomore Nicole McElroy from Karns City and freshman Sarah Charnock from Seneca Valley, are on the roster but have rarely seen the field this season.

"We're getting a lot more Western Pennsylvania kids than we used to,"Herlihy said. "There was a time when kids around here believed the grass was greener if they left the area.

"Now they notice us winning conference championships, getting to the national playoffs, and they're more apt to become part of that winning tradition."

Despite the consistent winning, recruiting has not gotten any easier for Herlihy.

"None of our athletic programs are fully funded here," she said. "Full scholarships can be tough for a player to turn down elsewhere and Gannon and Mercyhurst are two fully funded programs joining our league next year.

"What I'm most proud of is that none of my players are here for the money. A good education, an exciting, progressive soccer program, good facilities and a nice campus — that's what we sell here."