CRANBERRY TWP — Keaton Jennings only played one season of high school soccer.

He made it count.

The Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic goaltender and Cranberry Township resident signed a letter of intent Wednesday to continue his academic and soccer career at Robert Morris University.

Jennings transferred to CWNC for his senior year after spending his first three high school years at Seneca Valley.

“I decided not to play soccer there,” he said of Seneca Valley. “I was on a pretty good club team (Arsenal) and we made it to the regionals.”

He did play between the posts at CWNC and proved to be an impact player for the Trojans.

Jennings allowed only five goals all season — including a streak of seven consecutive playoff shutouts — before a 3-2 loss to Camp Hill in the PIAA Class 1A title game. The Trojans won the WPIAL 1A championship earlier in the postseason.

“Keaton is 6-foot-4 and can cover a lot of ground in the net,” CWNC coach Aaron Kelly said. “He can lunge across and deflect shots, cover rebounds, things like that.

“He made a lot of huge saves for us, but you would never know it by looking at him. He is a very humble kid.”

Jennings compiled 18 shutouts last year. No team scored more than one goal against the Trojans all season until the state finale.

“I've been a goalie for 14 years now, since I was four,” Jennings said. “Goaltending isn''t just about stopping shots. I love everything about the position.

“You have to move your feet, talk to your teammates and help set up the play. You're the last line of defense and the first line of attack.”

Jennings credited the Trojans' defensive unit — Anthony Rivetti, Danny Lynch, Luc Madonna and Owen Daugherty — for much of his success.

“Those guys were tremendous,” he said.

Kelly said Jennings' communication skills were pretty good, too.

“He is a true student of the game. You don't see much of that with high school kids,” the coach said. “He knows how to cover angles and he's got outstanding quickness.

“He talks to the defense, knows how to help get a play started. His work ethic and technique are top-notch. Keaton stays late after practice to work with guys. He loves the game.”

Carrying a 4.9 grade point average, Jennings plans to major in finance and accounting at Robert Morris. He was recruited by numerous Division I schools before joining the Colonials.

He said the business school at RMU “is just what I'm after.”

He's chasing a starting spot on the team as well.

Robert Morris is coming off a 4-11-3 season and has had just one winning campaign in the past seven years. But the Colonials were 3-3-1 in North East Conference play and reached the semifinals of the league tournament.

Two goaltenders return from last year, but neither saw a minute of playing time. Graduating senior Winter Fondi played every minute of every game.

“Keaton's got a chance to go there, start right away and impact their program for four years,” Kelly said. “They are going to enjoy his competitiveness, how much of a team player he is, how much he wants to win.”

Jennings' goal is to see some playing time as a freshman.

“It's up to me to get the coaches to believe in me,” he said.

Bill Denniston has been head coach at Robert Morris for 22 years.