ERIE — In high school, Jake Gamble wasn't interested in going to Penn State Behrend — at first.

After his senior season at Butler in the fall of 2008, when he scored 20 goals for the Golden Tornado, Gamble crossed the Erie-based school off the list.

“I ruled out Behrend in the beginning of November that year,” Gamble recalled, “then the following May, I was still undecided. I came back and I knew then that I wanted to come here.

“It was just one of those things. I saw the campus and thought, ‘This is where I want to be,'” Gamble added.

That was a relief to soccer coach Dan Perritano.

“Jake was probably under-recruited in high school,” the Lions coach said. “Jake might have needed us more than we needed him.”

Now a junior for the Lions (4-6-1), Gamble is building off a stellar sophomore campaign as he leads the team in goals (nine) and points (19).

“This year has been pretty good for me,” Gamble said. “I didn't know what to expect. Last year, teams didn't know of me and things just sparked.

“I didn't know how teams would react,” Gamble added.

As an All-WPIAL and Section Player of the Year honoree coming out of Butler, Gamble saw action his freshmen season, playing in 17 games, but made a name for himself last year.

The 5-foot-8 forward tallied 17 goals — which tied the program's single-season record — and led the American Mountain Collegiate Conference with 39 points.

He added five assists and was chosen as the team's Most Valuable Player and was a first-team all-conference choice.

“Jake is a joy to be around,” Perritano said. “He has a good sense of what ‘team' is.

“He's a super-competitive player and he's got good speed. Players with other teams identify him, to be aware of where he is,” Perritano added.

It wasn't always as easy as Gamble needed time to make an adjustment to the collegiate level.

“In high school, you played teams that never were good or never had good athletes, but in college, if you don't show up and play, you're not going to win. It's a lot faster and there's a lot more skill,” Gamble said.

The pieces started to fall into place in the spring season of Gamble's freshman year.

“I adjusted to the play and fit in with the team,” Gamble noted. “I got together with the guys. Even our coach told me I had a different mindset on the field.

“Everything came together and it felt good,” Gamble added.

Behrend has had a rough go early, but the team has started out 2-1 in the conference and Gamble believes its strong nonconference games will pay dividends later this season.

“These games are real crucial and we can't mess around,” Gamble said. “We played five teams earlier where two are in the national top 25 and three others are receiving votes.

“If you see the box scores, we had the lead against some of these teams,” added Gamble. “It should really help us.”