Stephanie Erickson, SESP ’98, has been named as head coach ofNorthwestern Women’s Soccer, Director of Athletics Mark Murphy announced Monday.
“I am very pleased that Stephanie will be joining us as head women’s soccer coach,” Murphy said during the announcement. “She has a tremendous background for the position. She had a great career as a student-athlete here and was a part of some very successful teams.”
Erickson will team up with assistant coach Lindsey Jones, herreplacement when she left the program in 2004. Erickson will be the third head coach in the 13-year history of women’s soccer at NU. Her hiring comes two weeks after former soccer coach Jenny Haigh resigned from the position after five seasons as head coach.
“I am incredibly excited to be the head coach at my alma mater,Northwestern University,” Erickson said. “I truly appreciate theopportunity that Mark Murphy and (Associate Athletics Director) Noreen Morris have given me and I look forward to getting prepared for the upcoming season.”
Erickson played soccer during the sport’s inaugural season under Coach Marcia McDermott. She remains NU’s all-time leader in goals and points, with 29 goals and 73 points. She was a four-year starting forward at NU. She earned the Wildcats’ Offensive Most Valuable Player award in 1994, 1996 and 1997.
In 1996, she helped her team to an NCAA bid, where she was named second-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-Great Lakes Region. She also earned the Big Ten scoring title. Her greatest accomplishment on the field, though, may be scoring two goals in five seconds, setting the NCAA record for fastest consecutive goals scored in a game.
After graduating, Erickson was an assistant women’s soccer coach at University of California. She was an assistant coach and interim co-head coach at Stanford University from 2000 to 2003. In 2002, the cardinal went undefeated in the PAC-10 conference and 21-2 in the regular season, finally losing in the NCAA quarterfinals in a shootout.
She was also an assistant coach at Harvard University in 1999 and was named the first female head coach of the Crimson in 2005. The team finished with an 8-5-3 and ranked sixth nationally in average goals-against, allowing eight goals in 16 games and posting 11 shutouts. Four Crimson players earned All-Ivy League honors and three earned NSCAA All-Northeast Regional all-America honors under Erickson’s mentorship.
She also served as an assistant coach at Northwestern in 2004. In that season, she helped the team return to the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2001.
“Her experience as an assistant here also will be very helpful, being very familiar with our players and having recruited many of them,” Murphy said. “She did great things during her time at Harvard and should make a smooth transition to the position. I’m excited about the future of the program under her leadership.”
Erickson possesses a ‘B’ coaching license from the United StatesSoccer Federation.
“It is a dream job for me in many aspects – including how great it is for me to be able to raise my family in a city I consider home,” Erickson said.
Erickson graduated with a bachelor of science in secondary education and Spanish. She also was a member of the Dean’s List from 1996 to 1998.
She will live in Chicago with her 2-year-old daughter, Xiah.
“Northwestern women’s soccer has an amazing future in store – starting with the current players who are a group of wonderful and committed student-athletes,” Erickson said. “I cannot wait to get started.”
Reach Emmet Sullivan at [email protected].
