Erica Dambach, a Huntingdon Valley native, Lower Moreland High School graduate, and head coach of Penn State’s women’s soccer team, was featured by The Philadelphia Inquirer for building a pipeline from State College to the sport’s biggest stages.

During her 19-year coaching tenure with the Nittany Lions, Dambach has won 11 Big Ten regular season titles, five conference tournaments, and a national championship, in addition to taking on a range of coaching jobs with the U.S. women’s national team.

According to The Inquirer’s coverage, a growing number of her players have gone on to the professional ranks and the U.S. women’s national team.

“It’s a big reason why I’m in the college game for sure, to see these women live out their dreams,” Dambach said. “Obviously, when they sit in our office when they’re 14 years old, they talk about lifting a World Cup trophy. And now to see these players get an opportunity to wear the crest and to represent the country and watch their dreams come true, it’s certainly proud moments around here.”

“There’s been opportunities to look in different directions or to think about is the grass greener,” Dambach told The Inquirer. “And I think every time I’ve looked in a different direction, all it does is reaffirm that this is who I am, and this is what I enjoy.”

Dambach played high school soccer on the boys’ team at Lower Moreland before being recruiting to play college soccer at William & Mary.

In November 2024, she was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Montco Chapter. From her biography:

Erica has won championships and awards throughout her career as both soccer player and coach. She led Penn State to the 2015 National Soccer Championship as coach of the Nittany Lions Women’s team and has twice been named NSCAA Coach of the Year, in 2012 and 2015. During her 17-year Happy Valley career she has coached 21 All-Americans, 16 Big Ten Players of the Year, won 11 Big Ten titles, five Big Ten Tournament titles, is a five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, has 17 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and coached two recent 2024 Women’s Olympic Gold Medalists, Alyssa Naeher and Sam Coffey during their PSU Careers. As a player at William and Mary Erica led the Tribe to four CAA Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances, including an elite Eight game in 1994, was a two-time all CAA First Team selection and All-Region in 1996. Erica was U.S. Women’s U-17 team Head Coach, and was assistant coach to the U.S. U-19 team, the U.S. National team that won the 2008 World Cup in Bejing, and the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup team in Germany. While at Lower Moreland Erica was an All-American and a member of the U.S. U-17 National Team. Prior to PSU she was an assistant coach at Bucknell, Lehigh, Florida State, and head coach at Dartmouth and Harvard. 

More about her career and her players’ accomplishments here.

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Photo: PSU