It was the home opener against then-No. 18 Maryland, and former Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer opted to start true freshman Emily Oleksiuk over senior Tracey Frost. After 90 minutes of action, Farmer was not disappointed with his decision, and he had found his starting goaltender.

Oleksiuk had shut out the Terrapins, 3-0, with five saves in her first collegiate game. This was the first in a long, illustrious career of shutouts that totaled 43.75 at its end.

The rest was history.

Oleksiuk started every game for the remainder of the season after the shutout of Maryland as well as every game during her sophomore campaign. In her four years as the goalkeeper for the Nittany Lions, she started all but three games.

The Willow Grove native compiled a record of 81-15-4 and an .830 winning percentage, both Penn State records. In her outstanding career, her goals against average was 0.74, including a junior year when her goals against average reached a personal best of 0.4.

Oleksiuk owns every Penn State single-season record and all career records. The only mark to elude her is the single-game save record of 15, which is held by Robyn Van Pragg.

She accomplished all these feats after not being highly recruited coming out of high school, and the only colleges that showed interest in her were small schools like East Carolina.

"Emily wasn't highly recruited by many schools," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said. "She was sort of an unknown from Pennsylvania, and there was no real hype surrounding her arrival."

Last year, when the horn sounded against North Carolina in the national quarterfinal, and the Lions were on the losing end of a 2-1 decision, much like the 2001 season, Oleksiuk was gone. Penn State was in search of a replacement.

Early indications are that it has found one in freshman Amanda Brown.

"You don't replace people like that, and everyone is different," Wilkins said. "Amanda does some things already much better than Emily did. There are a lot of things that Emily did much better than Amanda does. It's like comparing apples and oranges."

Brown knew when choosing Penn State over Boston College, Clemson and Richmond that she would be replacing a legend, but has tried not to think about it.

"[Oleksiuk] was a tremendous goalkeeper and no one can replace someone like that," Brown said. "She has built a great tradition here for goalies. I just go out everyday and work as hard as I can for teammates, and hopefully I can do my job."

Having the chance to make an impact right away was another aspect that Brown weighed very heavily when making her decision.

"She's a competitor," said Bill Brown, Amanda's father. "She didn't want to go to a place and sit around. By her nature she was going to battle and give it everything she had to make an immediate impact."

The Manasquan, N.J., native started learning the game of soccer at a very young age. Brown said her first experience was at the age of five, while playing youth soccer in her town's recreation league. Bill Brown said that when Amanda was very small, she was put in the net because she was one of the only ones who didn't cry while playing goalie. Brown began to enjoy the position, and her great athletic ability allowed her to continue playing it.

As a sophomore, Brown gave up playing softball and basketball because of the rigorous time she spent playing and practicing soccer. Brown would travel about an hour each way to practice with her club team, PDA Splash. In addition, she played soccer for Wall H.S., where she lettered for four years and was twice named to the all-state team.

Splash, one of the top club teams in the state, had much success when Brown was a part of the team, including a state title and two Region I semifinal appearances. Many members of the squad have continued to play soccer at some level in college. Brown will never forget Splash's team unity.

"My club team definitely shaped me into the player I am now," Brown said. "It showed me what it meant to work hard for your team and seeing everyone pull through for the betterment of the team."

Dave Nolan, an assistant coach at Georgetown, has helped Brown a great deal over the years. Nolan was her goalkeeper coach for a while, and worked to improve both her physical and mental aspects of the game. Brown has remained in contact with Nolan since he left Splash following the summer of 1999.

Wilkins knows that there will be a maturation process with a young goaltender that takes time, but that Brown can be very good in time.

"She needs to be more consistent," Wilkins said. "We're not expecting her to win games but just to keep us in some games, right now, and as we go along she is going to become more of an offensive threat ... she has the ability to become a great goalie."