BUTLER TWP — Entering her freshman season for the Butler High girls soccer team, Lisa Rodgers was supposed to be a spectator.

But when senior goalkeeper Jessica Onufer injured her knee in practice the day before the season opener, Rodgers was pressed into service.

And she performed admirably.

"(Rodgers) was so nervous,"said former Butler girls soccer coach Marlene Peoples. "She was thrown into the fire, but she adapted to it and came on strong."

Onufer returned midway through the season and the Golden Tornado wound up reaching the state championship game.

That was in 2003.

Now Rodgers has a chance to start as a freshman again at the University of Dayton.

After accepting a scholarship with the Ohio school, Rodgers will major in physical therapy. She has a grade-point average of 3.9 and takes advanced placement classes at Butler.

She will be competing with three other goalkeepers for the starting position at Dayton this fall.

"We don't like to redshirt players very much,"Dayton coach Mike Tucker said. "We believe in giving everybody the opportunity to compete for playing time.

"We know what Lisa can do. She's very capable of nailing down our starting position. Really, it's up to her."

Rodgers opted for Dayton at the urging of Flyers assistant coach Sergio Gonzalez, who coached her for years in the Butler-based Northern Steel program. She also received offers from Mercyhurst and St. Francis (Pa.).

Rodgers was a goalkeeper for six years with Northern Steel, which won the regional championship in 2003 and 2004, competing at nationals both years.

Gonzalez was an assistant soccer coach at Slippery Rock University for six years and still holds goalkeeping records as a player at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I.

"Lisa is very good with her feet,"Tucker said. "Sergio did a great job of training her. We need a keeper who can start our offense, and she has that type of ability."

Rodgers averaged a little more than one goal allowed per game during her career as a three-year starter for the Tornado.

"I'm hoping to start by my sophomore year, at the latest," Rodgers said. "I'd love to get on the field next year, but playing as a freshman in high school isn't quite the same as a freshman in college."

Rodgers will compete for playing time next year against senior Niki Reed, who started half of Dayton's games last season, junior Stacy Chew, who started two games, and junior Deana Waintraub, a transfer from the University of Louisville.

Waintraub shut out Eastern Kentucky, 3-0, Tuesday as part of Dayton's limited spring schedule.

Peoples said Rodgers' biggest plus as a goalkeeper is her confidence.

"She just doesn't give up goals,"she said. "A goals-against average of one over an entire career is exceptional. She knows she can be successful at the next level.

"During the past two years, she became more verbal, directing the other players in the field. That's a huge plus, too."

Dayton is coming off an 8-6-3 season overall, 6-3 in the Atlantic 10. Tucker is 164-62-8 in his career there, including eight regular season league titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances.

Rodgers joins former Butler teammates Meghan Schnur (Connecticut), Annie Lowry (James Madison) and Elise McCaskey (Naval Academy) among recent Tornado girls soccer players to move on to Division I programs.

Rodgers is the daughter of George Rodgers of Fenelton and Kathleen Wilbert Rodgers of Chicora.