Samantha Gildner was introduced to soccer by the age of 4, and she quickly picked up the game while playing for Highlands Area Soccer Club.
A few years later, she played for North United, a cup team with a roster primarily comprised of players from the Sewickley and Cranberry areas. At the time, North United fielded an A team and a B team. New players always started on the B team, and Gildner was no exception.
She just didn’t stay there for long.
“So I’m 10 years old, and the director of coaching for the club was coaching the B team that game, and we had no goalkeeper,” Gildner said. “He asked for volunteers. I said, ‘I guess I’ll try if for the first half.’ I didn’t have my own goalie gloves, had to borrow a pair. It turns out, I come off at halftime and take my gloves off. He goes, ‘Keep them on.’ I was kind of bummed because I wanted to show what I could do on the field.
“After the game, he goes to my mom, ‘Get her a good pair of goalie gloves. She’s going to be the A-team goalie.’”
Gildner hasn’t dropped the goalie gloves since.
The Highlands graduate who helped the Rams reach the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals in 2016 recently completed her first season as starting goalkeeper for IUP, and the 5-foot-4 junior was one of the best in the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
IUP finished 8-8-1 with a 7-8-1 record in the PSAC West, just a half-game out of fourth place, which would have qualified the team for the conference tournament.
It wasn’t the season Gildner and her teammates wanted, but considering IUP fielded a relatively inexperienced roster, the finish offers optimism for next season.
“We basically were a first-year team,” Gildner said. “I think the big thing for us was getting over our nerves, especially during those first couple of conference games.”
Gildner said she felt nerves early on, but her play certainly did not reflect it.
She started 16 games, and her 109 saves on the season ranked second among PSAC goalkeepers.
Her .858 save percentage also ranked second in the PSAC, and her 6.81 saves per game was fourth.
Gildner allowed 18 goals and posted five shutouts. Her favorite save of the season was during a scoreless draw Sept. 18 at Gannon on one of the first breakaways she faced in a college game.
“I really like the intensity,” Gildner said of her position. “Sometimes, I don’t enjoy that the game really is riding on my shoulders, but at the same time, it’s such an adrenaline rush knowing I have to save this to keep us in the game.”
Gildner plays a high line and, unlike some goalies, enjoys using her feet for more than punting and goal kicks, a nod to her early days of scoring goals for HASC.
And, these days, the former goalie volunteer is thinking she might have a future in the game after IUP.
“My goal was to come to IUP, go to school, do my best. It wasn’t just soccer, which really has opened some doors for me,” said Gildner, who also plays for Bridge City, a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh. “Where it goes from here, who knows?”