UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's soccer head coach Erica Dambach announced the addition of reigning Division I scoring leader and United Soccer Coaches All-American Rebecca Cooke from Quinnipiac on Friday afternoon.
"We are incredibly excited to be adding a player of Rebecca's caliber to our roster for the fall of 2023," Dambach said. "We expect that she will fit right into our culture and provide an immediate impact here in Happy Valley. Rebecca is a proven goal scorer and an exciting attacking player in every sense of those terms, leading the nation in both total goals and total points. We can't wait to see the things she will accomplish in the Blue & White this season."
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Cooke arrives in Happy Valley following the most productive individual season of her career, scoring a nation's-best 22 goals alongside seven assists for a Division I-leading 51 total points. In recognition of her historic season, the Bobcat striker took home United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News Third-Team All-America accolades in addition to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Golden Boot. An All-MAAC First Team selection, Cooke directed Quinnipiac to its first MAAC title and an NCAA Tournament opening round appearance in which the Bobcats fell by a 4-1 score to Penn State on Jeffrey Field.
"I chose Penn State because it's the perfect place for me to grow, both as an athlete and a person," Cooke stated. The sense of family and togetherness I felt while playing against the Nittany Lions in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year was undeniable. Penn State women's soccer is a highly competitive program, which is exactly the challenge I need to push myself to become the best athlete I can be. As soon as I visited PSU, I knew that this was the right place for me. I'm extremely excited to start this next chapter in my career."
One of the most dominant offensive players in women's soccer over the past three seasons, Cooke has increased her scoring output in every year of her collegiate career. Cooke owns 39 goals and 11 assists in her career for a total of 89 points scored in her three seasons with Quinnipiac. Cooke appeared in 44 games for the Bobcats and made 41 starts, logging 3,555 minutes of playing time on the field. She registered a .250 shot percentage in 2022 and built a striking .568 shot on goal percentage, also connecting on an NCAA-high six game-winning goals.
A proven winner with the Bobcats, Cooke led Quinnipiac to top-two seeds in the MAAC Tournament in each of her three seasons in Hamden. As a leader on the roster, Cooke helped steer QU to 33 team wins overall in three years despite a truncated 2020-21 spring season that featured just eight games. Due in large part to Cooke's efforts at the forward position, Quinnipiac booked the sixth-best winning percentage in the nation with a .816 final tally at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign and finished with the nation's second-best scoring offense, logging 2.84 goals per game.
Cooke will look to contribute to a competitive Nittany Lion offense that returns seven of its top nine goal scorers from a season ago, including a pair of fifth-year midfielders in Payton Linnehan and Cori Dyke. The Blue & White finished with the second-highest scoring offense in the Big Ten Conference last season while leading the league and ranking fourth nationally in shot accuracy with a .567 mark. PSU's offense also ranked inside the top-10 nationally in terms of total assists, leading the B1G with 55 dishes in last year's conference tournament championship run.
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