Adel Heder, Sarah Romasco Sweep PSAC Postseason Awards; Nine IUP Players Named to All-Conference Team

Adel Heder was named the PSAC West Coach of the Year while Sarah Romasco was selected the athlete of the year and rookie of the year in balloting conducted by the league’s head coaches.

A total of nine IUP players were named to the all-conference team.  Romasco, seniors Crystal Heder, Becky Dillard and Shana Speese and juniors Brittany Pikur and Janel Paffie were chosen to the first team while senior Erin Falce and freshmen Ray Schreiner and Elysse Dluhos were second team selections.

Falce and Heder are four-time all-conference performers.  Romasco is the first IUP player to win the league’s top rookie award and the first to be named the athlete of the year since Amy Peterson won in 1994 and 1995, the first two years of the program.

Heder is the coach of the year for the third time in six seasons at IUP.  He was also honored by his peers in 2001 and 2004 and was the Division II Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2001.  This season, Heder has led IUP to a record of 14-6, a second consecutive PSAC West title and a berth in the NCAA tournament for the second time in the past three years.

IUP has been ranked in the Top 25 in the National Soccer Coaches Association poll for most of the season, currently standing at No. 16.  Heder has a record of 77-33-4 for a winning percentage of .693 and directed IUP to the PSAC championship in 2004 when the team won a school record 19 games and played in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

With the exception of an injury plagued 2002 season, IUP has won at least 12 games in Heder’s other five years at the helm.  The 2005 squad achieved its highest ever national ranking, climbing to as high as eighth in the nation.

Romasco (Freedom/Ambridge) leads the PSAC in goals with 20 and points with 53 and is tied for the conference lead in assists with 13, a figure that established a new IUP single season record.  She ranks seventh in the nation in points per game (2.65), ninth in assists per game (0.65) and 13^th in goals per game (1.00).

Romasco tied a school record with four goals against Clarion and had three-goal games against Bridgeport and Edinboro.  In addition to her IUP season assist record, she is second in most goals and most points in one season.  The freshman forward, who started all 20 games this year, already stands in a tie for sixth in career assists, seventh in points and tied for seventh in goals.

Falce (Duncansville/Hollidaysburg) was a first team all-conference selection in 2004 and 2005 and second team in 2003 and this year.  She is the all-time IUP leader in goals (59), assists (33) and points (151) and her 77 games played is second only to Heder.  This season, a move to midfield resulted in her scoring only five goals, but her nine assists placed her third in the conference.

In addition to her career records, Falce also holds three of the top 10 single season goal totals ever at IUP, including a record 29 in 2004 when she scored a total of 68 points, another school mark.  Falce also had goal totals of 14 in 2003 and 11 last year and had four goals against Penn State Altoona in 2004 while adding three other hat tricks in her career.

Heder (Vandergrift/Kiski Area) was also on the first team in 2004 and a second team choice in 2003 and 2005.  She scored 11 goals, including two in the PSAC tournament, and added six assists this season for 28 points.  She ranked fifth in the conference in goals, sixth in points and seventh in assists while scoring four game-winning goals to tie for the league lead.

Heder holds the IUP career record for games played with 78 and stands second in goals with 41, assists with 27 and points with 109.  In 2004 she scored 15 goals, the fifth most in one season in school history, and had 40 points to rank fourth. 

Dillard (Pittsburgh/Baldwin) makes her debut on the all-conference team in her final season. She played and started 18 games and made 93 saves while allowing only 16 goals in 1349:02 minutes of action.  She was third in the PSAC and 21^st in the nation with an .853 save percentage and was fourth in the conference with a 1.07 goals against average.

Dillard, a two-year starter, ranks third in school history with 3,437 minutes played and an 0.97 goals against average while placing fourth with 271 saves.  Her 134 saves a year ago is fourth in the IUP single season record book.

Speese (Etters/Red Land) scored six goals and added eight assists for 20 points this season while repeating her first team selection from a year ago.  She was third on the team and fourth in the PSAC in assists and 13^th in the conference in points.  Her eight assists is the sixth most in one season and her career total of 16 places her fifth.

Speese has played in 58 games over the past three seasons and is tied for 11^th in IUP in career goals with 13 and is 10^th with 42 points.  She tied a school record with three assists in a win over Bridgeport earlier this season and added two assists against Clarion.

Pikur (Gibsonia/Pine-Richland) moves up to the first team this season after a second team nod in 2005.  This year she has scored nine goals and added three assists for 21 points.  Pikur is ninth in the PSAC in goals and 11^th in points. 

In 60 career games, Pikur has scored 20 goals to tie Romasco for seventh in school history and also ranks eighth in points with 46.

Paffie (State College/State College) has earned a reputation as one of the top defensive players in the PSAC, earning a spot on the all-conference first team for the second straight year.  She spearheads an IUP defense that has allowed 29 goals in 20 games. 

Paffie has played in 60 games in her three-year career and has one goal and five assists.

Schreiner (Richboro/Council Rock North) has scored 13 goals in her freshman season, a figure that ranks second on the team and third in the PSAC, while her 29 points is good for fifth in the conference.  Her 13 goals are tied for the seventh most in a single season in IUP history and her point total is tied for ninth. 

Schreiner scored the game-winning goal in the second overtime in IUP’s 2-1 win over Slippery Rock in the PSAC tournament semifinals last Friday.

Dluhos (Glenshaw/Shaler) started all 20 games and is the third IUP freshman on the All-PSAC West team.  She was a versatile player all season for IUP, seeing time as both a midfielder and defender depending on the team’s needs against a particular opponent.  She has a goal and an assist on the season.

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