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May, 2021
Erika Zschuppe has had a strong start to 2021, moving from Regional League to the ECNL and earning Puma King Football Player of the Month honors in the process.
This was definitely not Zschuppe’s first honor. She earned All-Ohio D3 2nd Team and All-Greater Cleveland D3 1st Team honors in 2018. In 2019 she claimed All-Central Region Team, All-Ohio D3 1st Team, and All-Greater Cleveland D3 1st Team honors. She experienced the most success in 2020, earning All-America Team, All-Central Region Team, All-Ohio D3 Player of the Year, All-Ohio D3 1st Team, All-Greater Cleveland Player of the Year, All-Greater Cleveland D3 1st Team, and News Herald Player of the Year honors.
Zschuppe is very humble despite the plethora of awards.
“I’m very proud because it’s an affirmation of all the time I dedicated to this sport,” Zschuppe said.
While the Regional League provided a great experience, Zschuppe is excited to be playing in the ECNL. She’s made a quick transition, scoring four goals in her first ECNL start.
“It has been very competitive playing with and against players who are serious and at the top of their game,” Zschuppe said. “It challenges me to think harder and play better and to elevate my game. It also prepares me for the college level.”
Her playing style is a perfect fit for her team and the club as a whole.
“I have a European style with lots of tactical movement,” Zschuppe said. “I’m not afraid to take on players. I try to change it up often and involve teammates often.”
Zschuppe is a talented and technical striker. She can shoot accurately and on target with both the left and right foot. She is very agile and very fast with the ball. She looks to players like Luka Modric, Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, and Falcão for inspiration. She feels that she is at the right club to make her goals of playing at the next level a reality.
“I want to play Division I college soccer, possibly play in U.S. or Europe professionally after college,” Zschuppe said. “I am still deciding on a college major but I’m interested in engineering and psychology.”
Zschuppe praised the work of two Internationals SC coaches.
“First is Zdravko Popovic. I like tough direct coaches who tell it like it is. Next is Jared Rose. He set up my SportsRecruits profile and gave me tips on highlighting my play.”
She has found the club to be a valuable asset in the recruiting process.
“Internationals has helped me create a SportsRecruits profile and connected me to several Division I coaches,” Zschuppe said. “They’ve set me up on TRACE to highlight my individual play. We’re currently working on a list of colleges where my style of play would be a good fit. I’d ideally like to play for University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Central Florida, Xavier, or Clemson.”
Popovic, who is the club’s founder and president, has been thoroughly impressed with Zschuppe.
“I wish we would discover Erika many years ago,” Popovic said. “Erika is great addition to our U18/19 ECNL team. She brings one more attacking weapon to an already potent special front line able to strike many different ways at any given time. Erika is comfortable with both feet which gives us options to provide her with challenge and opportunities many different ways. She contributes to who we are and we have all she needs to assist her and help her to be best player she can be and prepare her for the next level. Her future is bright and it will be enjoyable, fun, and rewarding watching her on her journey to excellence.”
According to Popovic, Zschuppe has already made quite an impact on her ECNL team.
“She will contribute and make every team better in the process and we are here to help her at each step and turn. I only wish she would have been with us at her younger age and stage of development. Her past results, accomplishments, and well-deserved awards shall be with her for rest of her life and we hope to add to it during her time with Internationals before she moves to her college career and beyond. We are happy that Erika and her family are part of the Internationals soccer family. Her future is bright.”
Erika Zschuppe is a special player who is clearly ready to take her game to the next level. And Internationals will definitely help her get there.