Taking a Corner Kick with Head Coach Eric Teepe

The FDU Knights Women’s Soccer team competes against Columbia University on September 5, 2024 at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium in New York, NY.

Where are you from originally? 

I live in Northport, N.Y. (Long Island) I grew up there as well.

What made you decide to coach at the college level?

Coming out of college, my original mindset was to become an athletic director or physical education teacher after graduating with a degree in sport management. I was still playing soccer regularly and decided to work first as an assistant at Averett University, Danville, VA., where I had graduated from and then I started helping with my old high school in Northport. During this time, I decided to earn my coaching badges. At this time, I connected with Sue Ryan who played for my dad. She was the instructor and offered me a position on the Stony Brook University women’s soccer staff the next day. From then on, I wanted to pursue this as my career choice.

What does a typical practice look like for your team?

Training is constantly changing. When we start preseason, it is all about seeing where we are from both a technical and tactical standpoint. Our sessions will be based on trying to build our squad around the level of the players we have. As the season progresses the game adds a toll on the players, and you find only one or two sessions a week that are geared to game planning with the others built around maintenance and recovery as we hopefully are pushing for a playoff spot.

What do you expect of your student-athletes?

We want our program to be respected on and off the field. We strive to lead in the classroom, and I am proud to see how each semester the student-athletes succeed not only on the field but especially in the classroom. The value of competing on a high level in the classroom and as a Division I athlete will only help them achieve the goals they want in the future.

During a game what is the energy of your sideline?

For every game you need the energy to be at a high level on and off the field. Each game is a true challenge, and we always need every player to be engaged and accountable to help us achieve our goals. As you can see after our goals this season, they truly want to work with each other.

Where would be your dream location for your student-athletes to play?

I could answer this in so many ways. I know for the players they all want to win our conference tournament and play in the NCAA tournament where the options of locations are plentiful. For me what I want the players to feel is something new whenever we play on the road. While I am extremely passionate about the game, I also understand how important it is for the student-athlete experience, so with that in mind whenever possible to show them more than just a hotel and a field. We have done such things as a pre-game walk on a national Civil War battlefield, a boat ride on the Rio Grande, a scavenger hunt in New York City, and a walking tour of the Garden of the Gods just to name a few. We will continue to try and let the players see all that is out there for them.