Hometown: Maple Grove, Minn.
By the time Erica Struckmann Strodtz finished her Kohawk women’s soccer career, she had scored 56 goals and had 23 assists. Her official recorded total career points of 135 is one of the highest in the 25-year history of the program.
As a sophomore, she was the total points leader in the Midwest Athletic Conference in 1996.
A two-time team captain and four-time MVP, Erica led the Kohawks to
Iowa Conference championships her junior and senior years. She scored the game-winning goals in the semi-finals and finals of the 1997 IIAC Women’s Soccer Tournament to give Coe its first
Iowa Conference championship in any sport. In 1998, Coe became the first IIAC women’s soccer team to repeat as champions.
Erica won the Barron Bremner Outstanding Athlete Award her senior year after being a finalist for the award as a junior. A three-time academic all-conference selection, she graduated as the female Courtney Award winner for having the highest GPA among athletic letterwinners at Coe.
While her contributions to the team are borne out by the statistics, Erica was more than the numbers. “She could have been a prima donna demanding respect and attention, but she did not,” said Coach Mickey Wu. “In fact, she worked the hardest and was her teammates’ greatest and most enthusiastic cheerleader.”
Off the pitch, Erica served four years as copy editor for Coe’s yearbook and was an honors student. An English major with minors in history and art, she graduated magna cum laude.
Erica and her husband, Peter, live in Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
