Soccer star Jamie Erickson first back-to-back winner of Griffins' Female Athlete of the Year award in 22 years
MacEwan Athletics
In a new world of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are announcing all 2019-20 Griffins award winners online. Here is our schedule:
March 25: Most Improved winners for each team (Find the story here)
March 26: Most Outstanding winners for each team (Find the story here)
March 27: Team of the Year (Find the story here)
March 28: Academic Team of the Year (Find the story here)
Monday: Female Rookie of the Year (Find the story here)
Tuesday: Male Rookie of the Year (Find the story here)
Today: Female Athlete of the Year
Thursday: Male Athlete of the Year
Our Female Athlete of the Year award goes to the individual who had the greatest performance of any female Griffins student-athlete (in good academic standing) over the course of the 2019-20 season.
The 2019-20 winner (as voted on by MacEwan Athletics' coaches and staff) is women's soccer player Jamie Erickson.
This marks the second-straight year Erickson has won MacEwan's Female Athlete of the Year honour. She becomes the first back-to-back winner of the award in 22 years – the first since women's volleyball star and Griffins' Wall of Fame member Lana Common won it in both the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons.
"It's a remarkable accomplishment," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "For someone who doesn't like all the attention that comes with it, what she's been able to do over her five-year career is unbelievable and I know she's going to look back fondly on it."
The honour caps a prolific season at the awards table for Erickson, who became the first Griffin in any sport to make a U SPORTS first all-star team and repeated as a Canada West first team all-star.
"Jamie had an outstanding last year of her career," said Cordeiro. "I think it speaks for itself what she's been able to do. There are 16 programs in Canada West and factor in all four conferences in U SPORTS, for her to be our first U SPORTS first team all-star is something special."
Erickson produced two goals and four points (both game-winners) in 14 regular season games, while consistently shutting down the top attackers in Canada West as the conference's top defensive player. She added a playoff goal – the game-winner in MacEwan's quarter-final win over Victoria.
Her season also included a spot on Team Canada's women's soccer team for the Summer Universiade in Italy prior to the 2019 Canada West campaign.
"That really helped kickstart her year and had her in peak form after playing against all the top internationals," said Cordeiro.
Erickson was a leader off the pitch as well, spending 72 hours over the season volunteering for various initiatives, including coaching, Santa's Anonymous and the Food Bank.
"What gets overlooked with what Jamie does that really sets her apart from others is her work in the community, and the work she does organizing all of our community service events," said Cordeiro. "Nobody volunteers more time than Jamie and she's always there to help her teammates in any way possible.
"Obviously, being the captain of our team, along with Kristyn Smart, Jamie's done a lot to continue to build this program on and off the pitch."
