On the soccer field, Jence Rhoads can be free.

No box-and-one defenses designed to stop her as she sees while playing basketball. No gimmicks to limit her effectiveness. No eyes scrutinizing her every dribble, her every flash to the hoop, her every no-look pass.

No pressure to score 20-plus points or to pull down 10-plus rebounds.

On the soccer field for Slippery Rock High School, Rhoads is just another high school student having fun - and excelling.

"Sometimes it makes it more fun," Rhoads said. "No one is expecting me to be super or anything."

On the basketball court, Rhoads is super.

Last winter as a sophomore guard, she averaged 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and six assists per game to earn the Butler County Girls Basketball Player of the Year award.

She already is getting interest from Division I colleges eager to bring her hoops skills into the fold.

But this fall, Rhoads is enjoying life as a center midfielder for the Slippery Rock soccer team.

Rhoads already has scored 10 goals in 11 games this season. As a sophomore last year, she tallied 17, and she started every game as a freshman.

She almost didn't play soccer this season.

"It was hard for me," Rhoads said. "I had to decide the first day of practice whether I wanted to play or not, and I actually decided not to play."

But Rhoads had a talk with coach Blair Gantz and she also looked around at all of her classmates on the team and changed her mind.

"The fun part for me is playing with all my friends," Rhoads said.

Gantz certainly is glad Rhoads had a change of heart. Rhoads, who has teamed with fellow junior Kelsey Drennen to form a formidable 1-2 punch for the 7-4 Rockets this season, has been a difference maker.

"Oh, I was definitely happy to see her," Gantz said. "I didn't know if she would play or not. I know how it is. I was a three-sport athlete. I had my favorite, and it was tough. If she didn't play, I was OK with it."

Rhoads spends most of her time honing her considerable basketball skills.

When it comes to soccer, she just lets her natural talent carry her.

And Rhoads has lots of it. She said it usually takes her a few weeks to get back into the swing of soccer season, but when she does, look out.

Rhoads scored four goals in a 7-1 win against Franklin last Saturday.

"She's fast. She's physical. She's tall," Gantz said. "Obviously, from playing basketball, she can jump. And she has great vision. That comes from basketball, too."

Rhoads, who is a hair under 6-feet tall, isn't one to shy away from contact.

Slippery Rock has played several teams in the WPIAL - a conference famous for its physical and bare-knuckle brand of soccer - and held its own.

Gantz wonders what would have happened if Rhoads focused on soccer instead of basketball.

"I tell her dad (former Slippery Rock University men's basketball coach Posey Rhoads) that all the time," Gantz said. "The funny thing is she doesn't touch a soccer ball until the season starts."

Rhoads also often wonders where fate would have taken her if she turned her full attention to the soccer field instead of the hardwood.

Rhoads began playing soccer at the age of 5 - about the same time she picked up and dribbled a basketball for the first time.

"I had thought about that," Rhoads said, "but I like basketball better."

Rhoads, though, likes the anonymity she can get on the soccer field, where the bull's-eye on her back isn't as large or as bright.

But the secret is out on Rhoads. Her days on the soccer field, stalking in the shadows, may come to an end as swift as one of her goal-scoring kicks.

"It's not uncommon to see her chase someone down from 30 yards away," Gantz said. "Before a game sometimes she'll come up to me and say, 'I feel fast today.' I get excited.

"She understands what it takes to be a great player. She's a very competitive person, but with that, she's a good, humble kid."