Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.
She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup and made a total of 119 appearances for the team. In 2012, as part of the Canadian Soccer Association's Centennial Celebration, she was honoured on the All-Time Canada XI women's in a 20-year career. McLeod represented Canada in four FIFA Women's World Cups: 2003 in the U.S., 2007 in China, 2011 in Germany and 2015 in Canada. She played in two Olympic tournaments: 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London where she helped Canada win the bronze medal.
Before joining FC Rosengård in 2015, she played professional soccer for the Vancouver Whitecaps, Washington Freedom, Dalsjöfors GoIF, Chicago Red Stars, and Houston Dash. She played collegiate soccer for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs as well as the Penn State Nittany Lions where she set several all-time records.
McLeod's most notable and controversial appearance came during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In the semi-final match against the United States on August 6, the referee ruled that McLeod had broken the six-second handling rule in the 76th minute, when Canada was leading 3–2. A free kick was given to the United States which resulted in a penalty being called on Canadian player Marie-Ève Nault after the ball struck her in the arm. The United States was given a penalty kick, which McLeod did not save. The United States ultimately won the game in overtime, eliminating Canada's chance for the gold medal.
McLeod suffered three ACL injuries to her right knee during her playing career. The final of these occurred in March 2016, while she was playing for FC Rosengård, and kept her out for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Early life Born to Cheryl and Doug McLeod in St. Albert, Alberta, a city near Edmonton, Erin was raised with her younger sister, Cara, and older sister, Megan. As a young girl, McLeod fell in love with hockey and the Edmonton Oilers. At the age of five, her family moved to Calgary, where she channelled her obsession into soccer. She quickly climbed the local soccer ranks and found herself a midfielder on a Calgary select team. At the age of 12, the goalkeeper on the team was injured and she stepped up for the spot. She would go on to play solely as a goalkeeper from this point.
McLeod's father, Doug, was an oil engineer, a job that required him to move around frequently. In 1997, when McLeod was 14, she and her family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where she spent both grades 9 and 10 at Jakarta Intercultural School. While in Jakarta, McLeod captained the under-15 Jakarta all-stars as the only girl on the team. She was able to greatly improve her game by playing with boys. She grew too old for the all-star team the following year and was left to play on the high school team with many girls who had never played soccer before.
During the May 1998 riots in Indonesia, McLeod, then 15, and her family were forced to evacuate due to the impending danger. The main airport in Jakarta was too dangerous at the time and they were forced to fly out from a smaller airport, passing a long line of tanks on the way there. She noted that it "opened up [her] eyes to what's going on in the world" and that she didn't "know poverty like they do." McLeod and her family eventually returned to their home in Indonesia, where she remained for another year.
While in Indonesia, McLeod was plagued by body image issues and developed an eating disorder. She was "bigger" than many girls at her high school, and would often skip meals and exercise excessively; her family eventually hired a nutritionist to help her recover.
In the summer of 1999, before McLeod entered grade 11, she made the decision to move back to Calgary to live with her grandmother, leaving her parents and younger sister behind in Jakarta. After making the move back to Canada, McLeod caught the attention of Canadian under-19 coach Ian Bridge and reached her dream of representing Canada on the international stage.
College career
SMU Mustangs McLeod attended Southern Methodist University and played for the Mustangs in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. In her rookie season, she made 84 saves and conceded 25 goals, ending the year off with a record and six clean sheets. She recorded a 1.36 goals against average (GAA) for the season. In 2002, she made 85 saves and conceded 23 goals in 18 games. She ended the season with a record and four clean sheets, making 4.72 saves per game and recording a 1.19 goals against average (GAA).
During her career at SMU, McLeod played 38 games, starting 18. She had a career record of , with 10 clean sheets, 4.45 saves per game, and a 0.779 save percentage. She made 169 saves in the 3390 minutes she played for the Mustangs.
McLeod was named to the All-WAC Tournament Team in 2001 and the Academic All-WAC Team in 2002. She received First Team All-WAC Honours and NSCAA All-Region Honours in both 2001 and 2002.
Penn State Nittany Lions Following her role on the bench for the Canadian national team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, McLeod starting looking at other schools. After fellow Canadian international Carmelina Moscato told McLeod that Pennsylvania State University was looking for a goalkeeper, McLeod transferred to the school and played for the Nittany Lions for the 2004 and 2005 seasons while majoring in creative advertising.
McLeod quickly took over the starting goalkeeper position for the 2004 season. Although a shoulder injury pained her throughout the season, she appeared in 21 of 23 games, playing a total of 1885 minutes. She led the Big Ten Conference in clean sheets with 11 total for the season and ranked second in the nation in goals against average (GAA) at 0.43. McLeod conceded 9 goals and recorded 56 saves during the season. She earned third team NSCAA All-America honours, first team All-Big Ten honours, and first team All-Mid Atlantic Region honours for 2004, becoming the second goalkeeper to earn All-America honours for the Nittany Lions.
In 2005, McLeod once again was the star goalkeeper for the team, appearing in 24 of the 25 games of the season. She played a total of 2,187 minutes, conceding 20 goals and recording 85 saves for the entire season. She helped the Nittany Lions go undefeated in the regular season to become one of the few teams in NCAA history to finish the season undefeated and not win a national championship. She earned first team NSCAA All-American honours, first team All-Big Ten honours, first team All-Mid Atlantic Region honours, third team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honours, and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for 2005. The same year, she was named a M.A.C. Hermann Trophy semi-finalist.
Penn State statistics YearGP/GSMinRecordSOSVGCGAA200421/191885:5917–2–1115690.43200524/242187:1822–0–210.4785200.82Total45/434037:1739–2–321.47141290.64 Updated through 2016-06-16
Penn State all-time records McLeod's record 11 clean sheets in 21 games during the 2004 season rank second all-time at Penn State as of June 2016. Her 0.957 winning percentage during the 2005 season is ranked first of all time, while her winning percentage in 2004 of 0.875 is ranked second at the school. In 2004, her 0.43 goals against average (GAA) ranked second best of all time. The same year, she also conceded the fewest goals in one season. As of June 2016, she still holds the all-time career record for highest winning percentage (0.92), fewest goals against average (0.64), and consecutive clean sheet minutes (857:24).
Club career
Vancouver Whitecaps McLeod played with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-League in 2004 and 2006. While playing for the Whitecaps, the team never lost a game and she helped bring in the club's first championship victory in 2004. In the championship game, she made two saves in the penalty shootout and scored the game-winning penalty kick. In 2006, she helped the Whitecaps win a second W-League title after securing a clean sheet in the final against Ottawa Fury.
Washington Freedom On April 16, 2009, the Washington Freedom announced they had signed McLeod as a post-International Draft discovery claim for the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer league. Though it was intended that McLeod would be the team's starting goalkeeper, visa issues kept her unavailable for the first five matches of the regular season. She made her first appearance for the team on May 17, 2009 and was the starting goalkeeper in all fifteen of her appearances. The Freedom finished in third place during the regular season with a record, sending them to the playoffs. The team was defeated 2–1 by eventual champions Sky Blue FC in the first round.
McLeod returned as the starting goalkeeper for the Freedom during the 2010 WPS season. She made fourteen appearances for the team before she suffered a season-ending ACL injury to her right knee in the 84th minute of a match against FC Gold Pride on July 24, 2010. The Freedom finished in fourth place during the regular season with a record, earning a spot in the playoffs. The team was defeated 1–0 in overtime by the Philadelphia Independence in the first round. Following the 2010 season, the Washington Freedom was purchased by Dan Borislow who renamed the team magicJack and relocated it to Boca Raton, Florida. McLeod remained on the roster following the team's ownership change until her contract was terminated on March 9, 2011.
Dalsjöfors GoIF McLeod signed with Swedish team Dalsjöfors GoIF of the Damallsvenskan for the 2011 season. Though the season ran from April 9 to October 15, McLeod didn't make an appearance for the team until August 13, following her return from national team duties at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She started all ten of her appearances for the team, winning one game on October 8. The team finished in last place in the regular season and was relegated to a lower division for the following season.
Chicago Red Stars
In January 2013, McLeod joined the Chicago Red Stars in the new National Women's Soccer League as part of the NWSL Player Allocation, which distributed national team players from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. She started in the league's first-ever game on April 14, 2013, against the Seattle Reign. The game ended in a 1–1 draw.
McLeod started all sixteen of her appearances for the Red Stars and ended the season with a 1–2 win over FC Kansas City on August 18. For the 2013 NWSL season, she ranked seventh in the league for number of saves with 64 and fifth for number of clean sheets with four. Her save percentage for the season was 70%, saving 64 of the 92 shots on goal.
Houston Dash
In January 2014, McLeod was traded to expansion team Houston Dash for fellow Canadian international Melissa Tancredi, who had been newly allocated to the Dash as part of the 2014 NWSL Player Allocation. McLeod was named captain of the team for the 2014 NWSL Season on April 8 after a vote by her teammates.
McLeod was the starting goalkeeper in the team's league debut against the Portland Thorns on April 13, 2014. She conceded one goal, leading to the first loss of the season for the Dash. She made twenty appearances for the team during the 2014 season, starting nineteen. She ranked second in the league for number of saves with 83 and ended the season with a save percentage of 69%.