ERIE— Amanda Sharbaugh is more than a record breaker. She's a program elevator.

The 2008 Knoch graduate and the school's girls soccer all-time scoring leader with 109 goals is on her way to similar honors at Gannon University.

Sharbaugh scored her Gannon single-season record 15th goal and assisted on another tally in a 2-1 win over Indiana (Pa.) over the weekend.

That triumph handed the Knights (11-6-2, 9-3-2) the PSACWest regular season championship during their first year in the league. Gannon will play in the first postseason game in the program's history today when it hosts IUP.

"It's amazing the effect Amanda has had on her team,"Gannon coach Colin Petersen said. "She's always working hard and you can see the love of the game in her.

"It's infectious. It spreads to the other kids and has a profound affect on all of the other players. That's unusual for a freshman."

Sharbaugh's effect on the Golden Knights is reflected by the team's won-loss record. Gannon is enjoying its best soccer campaign since 1998, when it won 12 games.

Sharbaugh's 15 goals tied the school mark set by Erin Cray in 1999. Her 35 points are two shy of matching the school's single-season record in that category.

"I didn't know what to expect of myself coming up here,"Sharbaugh said. "It's been pretty exciting. Our goal was to win the PSAC and we did it."

Sharbaugh has scored at least 10 points more than any of her teammates. Courtney Rowan has eight goals and 25 points. Heather Patterson is third on the team with 12 points.

Sharbaugh's breakthrough game was a week ago at Slippery Rock, when she scored three goals in a collegiate game for the first time as Gannon cruised to a 5-1 victory.

"That kind of boosted my goal-scoring total up there,"she said. "But I had no idea about any school records until my Dad told me.

"I want to try to beat the record for goals scored in a career here. ... I think it's 34 or 36, something like that. More importantly, we want to get to the NCAA's this year and keep going back there."

Soccer didn't attract Sharbaugh to Gannon. Academics did that.

She is a position assistant in the medical field at Gannon, putting in hours as a nurse practitioner and working with doctors.

"I love it,"Sharbaugh said. "The experience I'm gaining is invaluable."

The experience she's giving to the Golden Knights' soccer team is invaluable as well.

"I heard Amanda was a good player in high school. but once I went to see her play, she was better than I expected,"Petersen said. "I was hoping she'd make an immediate impact for us.

"Just because she's a freshman doesn't mean I wasn't planning on playing her."

Sharbaugh has failed to score in only five of Gannon's 18 games this season. In three of her scoreless games, the Golden Knights didn't score at all.

Three of her 15 goals have been game-winners.

"She makes us go,"Petersen said. "Amanda has natural instincts for this game. She's driven and she loves to take players on and beat them.

"Her positioning, her presence on the field. ... She's a coachable kid, but you can't coach that."