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 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
Galloway Township, New Jersey
Galloway Township is a township in Atlantic County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. At of total area of land and water, Galloway Township is the largest municipality in the state.Absegami High School. 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, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The newspaper designated market runs from Ware ...
'' 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 is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...
at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
, 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 an American-born Dominican professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Danish Elitedivisionen club FC Nordsjælland and the Dominican Republic women's national team. She previously play ...
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 pen ...
. 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
NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...
in the 3rd round of the
2016 NWSL College Draft
Sixteen or 16 may refer to:
*16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17
*one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016
Films
* '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film
* ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...
. 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 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 defunct Women's ...
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 (200 ...
. 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 (200 ...
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
. She was then called up to the United States under-23 team for the 2016 Istria Cup 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.