Monteleone

The Robert Morris University men's soccer team is headed in the right direction.

And the Colonials believe Dave Monteleone can help them stay the course.

Monteleone, a senior goalkeeper at Seneca Valley High School, signed a letter of intent Monday to attend the suburban Pittsburgh school.

"I was also thinking about going to Westminster (College)," said Monteleone. "But Robert Morris has a very good business program, and that's what I'm going to be majoring in."

The Colonials are coming off their best season in 11 years, finishing the 2005 campaign at 11-8-1 and making the NCAA playoffs before a 1-0 loss to West Virginia University ended the season.

"That was this program's first trip to NCAAs since 1994," said head coach Will Denniston, who will be entering his 10th season at RMU next fall.

"For us, it was like winning the Super Bowl was for the Steelers," he added. "It was a big deal around here, and it was fun to be part of it."

Denniston liked what he saw in Monteleone right away.

"I first saw him play at one of our camps here last summer," he said. "His size is what you notice first. He's big (6-feet-

5

), but he's a pretty good athlete for a kid his size."

The Colonials will have two keepers returning next season: incumbent sophomore Matt Felice and Karns City graduate Neal Early, who will be a junior.

"We have no favoritism with playing guys simply because they're older," said Denniston. "It's all going to come down to how well Dave adjusts to the college game. As far as I know, this will be the first time in his life that he'll be playing just one sport. If he focuses on soccer, he could very well see playing time rather quickly."

Monteleone currently leads the Seneca Valley boys basketball team in scoring with 13 points per game.

He's also done some pitching for the varsity baseball team and even shouldered some place-kicking duties for the football team last fall.

But soccer is where he has left his mark at Seneca Valley.

"I became a starter during the last few games of my freshman season," said Monteleone. "It was a great experience because it's a whole different speed between junior varsity and varsity."

Monteleone helped lead the Raiders to the playoffs his junior season before turning in an award-winning performance in his senior campaign.

He gave up just 1.25 goals-per-game last season and was named Section 2-AAA player of the year while leading SV to a section crown and the quarterfinals of the WPIAL playoffs.

"What impressed me about Dave last season was how competitive he was," said SV boys soccer coach George Williams. "Not that he wasn't competitive before, but you could tell that he was getting more serious about his game."