Erica Marie Skroski (born February 14, 1994) is an American retired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a defender.

Early life

A native of

Galloway Township, New Jersey Galloway Township is a township in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a growing edge city to neighboring Atlantic City. At of total area of land and water, Galloway Township is the largest municipality in the state.

, Skroski played soccer at

Absegami High School Absegami High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Galloway Township, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey The student body comes from Galloway Township.

. In 2011, she was named to the All-South Jersey Girls' Soccer First Team, and was named ''

The Press of Atlantic City ''The Press of Atlantic City'' is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in New Jersey. Originally based in Pleasantville, New Jersey, Pleasantville, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The Designated marke ...

'' Girls Soccer Player of the Year. She played club youth soccer for NJSA under coach Kris Anderson.

College

From 2012 to 2015, Skroski played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, where she majored in exercise science and sport studies. She was selected to the 2012–13 Big East All-Academic Team, and was selected to the Academic All-Big Ten team in 2014 and 2015. For the 2014 season, she was selected to the All-Big Ten Second Team, and the 2014 Big Ten All-Tournament Team. In 2015, Skroski was named Big Ten Defender of the Year and was a First Team All-Big Ten selection. She was also a NSCAA Second Team All-American. In the 2015 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, Rutgers reached the college cup for the first time in school history. Rutgers had built around defense, and Skroski and

Brianne Reed Brianne Taylor Reed Pérez (born 2 May 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back. Born in the United States, she plays for the Dominican Republic women's national team. Early life Born and raised in Tinton Falls, New Jers ...

anchored the back line for the team. In the quarterfinal, Rutgers held the No. 1 seed Virginia, the highest scoring team in the country, to a 0–0 draw, then advanced by defeating Virginia 7–6 in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. For the season, Rutgers set school records with 19 wins and 19 shutouts; their season ended with a loss to Penn State in the semi-final.

Professional career

Skroski was drafted by

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

in the 3rd round of the

2016 NWSL College Draft The 2016 NWSL College Draft was the fourth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 15, 2016, at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention ...

. As a rookie, she played in all 20 games, playing all but six minutes during the

2016 NWSL season The 2016 National Women's Soccer League season was the fourth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer ( ...

. She scored her first professional goal against the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

on July 17, 2016. In October 2016, Sky Blue FC exercised Skroski's 2017 option. Skroski played in 21 games with 20 starts during the

2017 NWSL season The 2017 National Women's Soccer League season was the fifth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2 ...

. She scored her first goal of the season on September 30 against Boston. After the 2017 season, Sky Blue FC extended a new contract offer to Skroski. She made the Sky Blue FC opening-day roster for the

2018 NWSL season The 2018 National Women's Soccer League season was the sixth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2 ...

. She was out of contract in December 2021.

International career

She was called up to the United States national under-23 team in January 2016 for a friendly against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. She was then called up to the United States under-23 team for the

2016 Istria Cup The 2016 Istria Cup was the fourth edition of the Istria Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Istria, Croatia. It took place from 2 to 7 March 2016, at the same time as the 2016 Algarve Cup, 2016 SheBelieves Cup and 20 ...

in March. In January 2017, Skroski was called into a U.S. under-23 team training camp; she was one of four NWSL players named to the roster. She was named to the U.S. U-23 team rosters for the 2017 La Manga Tournament in March and the 2017 Nordic Tournament in June.

Career statistics

College

Club

Honors

Individual *

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Defender of the Year:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

Rutgers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skroski, Erica 1994 births Living people Absegami High School alumni American women's soccer players People from Galloway Township, New Jersey Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's soccer players Gotham FC players Soccer players from Atlantic County, New Jersey National Women's Soccer League players Gotham FC draft picks Women's association football defenders United States women's youth international soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen