ERIE — Amanda Sharbaugh has "it."

It is what Gannon University women's soccer coach Colin Petersen calls intangibles. It is what eventually will lead Sharbaugh, a Knoch graduate and the Knights' all-time leading scorer with 109 goals, to the top of Gannon's all-time scoring list.

"What she has, you can't coach," Petersen said. "Her instincts for the game are amazing. When we were recruiting her, her instincts are what jumped out at us."

Sharbaugh, now a sophomore, is third on the all-time goal scoring list for the Golden Knights with 22, one behind Adrienne Rasmussen and 11 behind leader Erin Cray.

Sharbaugh already has 53 points in her career, which ranks her fifth all-time in Gannon history. Cray tops that list, too, with 90 points.

But individual accolades take a backseat to Sharbaugh's team goals.

"Scoring goals is a bonus for me," Sharbaugh said. "I think we have a team this year that has a lot of heart. It's about who wants it more and we definitely want it."

Sharbaugh wants to make it to the NCAA Division II tournament. Last year, the Golden Knights narrowly missed advancing to the NCAA tournament after finishing 11-6-1. The 11 wins was the second most in the program's 22 years.

In 2008, Sharbaugh set the single-season record with 15 goals. This year, she has seven goals and four assists for Gannon (6-4-1).

"It's definitely a goal of mine (to break the school record in goals scored and points), but in the big picture, I want to get to the NCAAs."

To do that, Gannon will lean heavily upon the speedy 5-foot-3 Sharbaugh.

In high school, she used her quickness to score goals in bunches. At the Division II college level, Sharbaugh has had to be more crafty.

Petersen said no matter the challenge, Sharbaugh has tackled it with the same zeal she displays on the field.

"Sometimes she overanalyzes things too much," Petersen said. "Sometimes she needs to just use her instincts more."

Offense never was a problem for Sharbaugh. But when she got to Gannon, she quickly realized her defensive game was lacking and worked tirelessly to improve it.

"In high school, the way our team was, I never really had to play too much defense," Sharbaugh said. "Here, everyone has to play defense."

Sharbaugh played soccer year-round in high school. That experience made her transition to college soccer that much easier, she said.

"I played a lot of cup soccer, and that is a higher level," Sharbaugh said. "It's a lot faster and college is certainly a lot faster."

She got her sophomore season off to a nice start with both goals in a 2-0 win against West Virginia Wesleyan. Sharbaugh found the net twice again in a 4-1 win over Clarion.

In her one-plus seasons, Sharbaugh has five multigoal games, including a hat trick last season against Slippery Rock.

"She's the type of player who is always looking to improve," Petersen said. "You always want to have that kind of player."

<B>Name Goals Ast. Pts.</B>Erin Cray 34 22 90Joy Pelger 22 18 62Courtney Rowan 19 23 61Adrienne Rasmussen 23 10 56<B>Amanda Sharbaugh 22 9 53</B>Jamie Shadd 19 11 49Julie Piazza 20 8 48Heather Patterson 14 11 39Bridget O'Leary 14 10 38