Erica Walsh coaching on the sidelines

2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics

  • NUMBER OF PENN STATERS COMPETING: 11
  • NUMBER OF PENN STATERS IN ALL ROLES: 14
  • NUMBER OF OLYMPIC ALTERNATES: 1

 

Penn State sent one of its most diverse pools of Olympic athletes to Beijing in 2008. The eleven athletes affiliated with the Nittany Lions represented eight different countries. Members of the Penn State family flocked to China to represent not only the United States but also Thailand, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Germany, Poland, and Canada.

Penn State Lehigh Valley graduates Bobby Lea and Michael Friedman became the first Nittany Lions to compete in track cycling at the Olympics. The track and field team and the fencing team also sent multiple athletes who competed for their respective homelands. The only Penn Stater to return home with a gold medal, though, was not an athlete but an assistant coach.

 

Profile: Erica Walsh Dambach

Erica Walsh Dambach portrait
Erica Walsh Dambach (Pennsylvania State University, Image Resource Center records 1943-2007)

Erica Walsh Dambach has been the head coach of the Penn State women’s soccer team since 2007, with a record of 228-74-1  through  the  2021 season.  Her teams have  won eleven Big Ten regular season championships and four Big Ten tournament titles.   Walsh guided  Penn State to the NCAA championship in 2015 and finished as runner-up in 2012.  She was four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and the National Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2015. Her teams have claimed ten Big Ten Championships and made sixteen NCAA Tournament appearances.

Walsh played college soccer at  William & Mary  from 1993 to 1997.  She started her coaching career at Dartmouth as an assistant coach from 1998 to 1999, then advanced to take over as head coach of the Big Green from 2000 to 2002. Walsh worked at Lehigh in 2003 and 2004 before moving to Florida State as an assistant coach from 2005 to 2006. Walsh got her next head coaching opportunity at Harvard in 2006 before coming to Penn State the following year.

Walsh has extensive national and international coaching experience in addition to her time in the college ranks. She was the head coach of U.S. Women’s under-17 team from 2004 to 2007 as well as an assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s under-19 team in 2004. Walsh was an  assistant coach for the U.S. National Team in 2008 and helped coach team to win gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her main responsibility was coaching team defense, a role that proved crucial as the Americans held Brazil scoreless in the gold medal match.

In addition to her Olympics experience, Walsh served as assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National team from 2008 to 2011, helping guide the team to silver medal at the 2011 Women’s World Cup. She then took on an assistant role with the U.S. Women’s under-20 team from 2013 to 2014. Walsh returned an assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National team in 2020 and  will be back on the sideline in Tokyo for the Olympics in 2021.

 

SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL READING

  • Gordon Brunskill, “In the Moment: PSU Coach Witnesses Growth of Sport at World Cup,” Centre Daily Times (State College, PA), August 7, 2011, B1.
  • Corey Clark, “FSU’s Krikorian has Strong Connections to World Cup Team,” Tallahassee (FL) Democrat, S1.
  • “Erica Dambach,” Penn State Nittany Lions, https://gopsusports.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/erica-dambach/763.
  • Jonathan F. McVerry, “Olympic Winners Shine in Exhibit,” Centre Daily Times, June 27, 2008, B20.
  • Todd Zolecki, “Driven to Success,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 2002, F2.