Northwestern University Athletics
Stephanie Erickson Named Head Women's Soccer Coach
7/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
July 3, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. - Stephanie Erickson, Northwestern's all-time leader in goals and points, has been named head coach of Northwestern University's women's soccer program, Director of Athletics Mark Murphy announced Monday.
"I am incredibly excited to be the head coach at my alma mater, Northwestern University," Erickson said. "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. I truly appreciate the opportunity that Mark Murphy and (Associate Athletics Director) Noreen Morris have given me and I look forward to getting prepared for the upcoming season. 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. I cannot wait to get started."
A 1998 graduate of Northwestern, Erickson returns to Evanston after serving as the head coach at Harvard University in 2005 where she led the Crimson to an 8-5-3 record in her first season as a head coach. Erickson's squad led the Ivy League and ranked sixth nationally in goals-against average, allowing a total of just eight goals in 16 games and 11 shutouts, including a 1-0 victory over 20th-ranked Ohio State. Erickson mentored four players to all-Ivy League honors and three to NSCAA all-Northeast Regional all-America honors.
"I am very pleased that Stephanie will be joining us as head women's soccer coach," Murphy said. "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. Her experience as an assistant here also will be very helpful, being very familiar with our players and having recruited many of them. 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."
Prior to her arrival at Harvard, Erickson served as the top assistant at Northwestern in 2004, where she helped her alma mater reach the Big Ten Tournament after a three-year hiatus. The Wildcats finished in the top half of the Big Ten standings, won 10 games and finished with a winning record in conference play for the first time since 1998.
After beginning her coaching career at California in 1998, where she helped the Golden Bears to the Pac-10 title and an NCAA bid, Erickson went to Harvard as an assistant on the 1999 Crimson team which went 14-2-1 and was ranked as high as fifth in the nation at the end of the regular-season. The team captured three in-season tournament titles, its fourth Ivy title in five seasons and earned its first-ever seeding in the NCAA Tournament. She departed Harvard at the conclusion of the academic year for a position at Stanford, where she recruited three classes ranked in the top 10 nationally (2001, 2002, and 2003) and helped the Cardinal reach the NCAA Women's College Cup each season with a combined record of 60-21-5 in her four-year tenure.
In 2002, she served as the interim co-head coach, and helped guide the Cardinal to a No. 1 national ranking, a 21-2-0 record, a Pac-10 title and a spot in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Stanford staff earned National Coach of the Year honors from Soccer America at the conclusion of the season.
Erickson was a four-year starting forward for the Wildcats and is the all-time leading scorer in school history with 29 goals and 73 points. She earned the Wildcats' Offensive Most Valuable Player honors in 1994, 1996 and 1997 and helped lead Northwestern to an NCAA Tournament bid in 1996 when she was named second-team all-Big Ten, second-team all-Great Lakes Region and captured the Big Ten scoring title. In addition, Erickson scored a pair of goals in a span of five seconds to set the NCAA record for fastest consecutive goals scored in a game.
Erickson graduated from Northwestern in 1998 with a bachelor of science in secondary education and Spanish. She was a three-time academic all-Big Ten selection and a member of the Dean's List from 1996-98. She will reside in Chicago and has a daughter, 2-year-old Xiah.
Erickson's resume
Player:
Northwestern University, 1994-97
Coaching:
University of California, 1998 season
Assistant coach
Harvard University, 1999 season
Assistant coach
Stanford University, 2000-01, 2003 season
Assistant coach
Stanford University, 2002 season
Interim co-head coach
Northwestern University, 2004 season
Assistant coach
Harvard University, 2005 season
Head coach
Northwestern University, 2006-present
Head coach
