erika.txt

Feature Story

Erika Schansberg: Season's Change

by Matt Spruiell

Erika Schansberg just couldn't get used to it. The women's soccer forward had gone from scoring at least one goal in every game as a high school player to not being able to find the net if it was thrown over her. 
That was until the Mississippi State game last season, where Schansberg scored three consecutive goals in a span of about nine minutes, breaking a school record for goals in a half. Her scoring problems seemed to be over.
"I was like, here we go," Schansberg said.
But the goals never came after that. 
"I scored three goals in one game, and that was it for the rest of the season. It was real frustrating," Schansberg said. 
Those days are behind her now.  This season Schansberg leads the team in goals as she is averaging a goal a game.  In the Tigers' season opener at SW Texas State, Schansberg recorded her second career hat trick.
"I'm getting such good assists from the other players that I couldn't possibly miss some of the goals I've gotten," Schansberg said. "Our entire offensive attack is just clicking right now."
"Her level of play this season has been phenomenal," first-year head coach Karen Richter said.  "She has done a great job of stepping up her game and scoring goals early.  Because of her play, she is drawing defenders to her which allows more of her teammates to get open."
It hasn't been easy, though. Schansberg and the rest of the Tigers, much like their football counterparts, have had to adjust to a new coaching staff and a new system. When hired in the spring, Richter brought to the Plains a 3-5-2 formation, different from last season's 4-3-3 scheme.
"Our whole team was lost at the beginning of the season," Schansberg said. "No one on the team had ever played in this formation before. The first few weeks of practice were spent just getting in the right spots."
Richter, who spent six seasons at Central Florida before coming to Auburn, also brought an emphasis on physical strength and conditioning.
"She gave us a big, fat, thick packet of running, running, and more running to use over the summer," Schansberg said. "It was a very intense running and sprinting packet, and we also had some weight-lifting and plyometrics."
It's paid off.
"I'm in the best shape of my life by far," Schansberg said.
"The biggest difference is that Erika put in extra work on her own over the summer," Richter said.  "She returned in great shape and her fitness has been the biggest difference.  She gets to balls that she didn't before and it's a great credit to the hard work that she put in."
On a personal level, Schansberg had to adjust to life in the South after growing up in Wisconsin. In fact, she's not afraid to admit she didn't know where Auburn was before getting recruiting calls from coaches.
"When they called, my first questions were 'where are you?', 'what state?', 'what conference?'. I had to get them to describe it to me," Schansberg said.
In making the decision on which school to attend, Schansberg had options to weigh.  There were several things she was looking for in a prospective school.
"I was looking for a school that was really athletically involved," Schansberg said.
Auburn's coaches must have known it, because they brought her down for a visit on a day where school pride divides families, empties streets, and in essence stops life in Alabama for a few hours: the Auburn-Alabama football game.
And if 86,000 screaming, blue-and-orange clad fans with a year's worth of good-natured ribbing riding on the game isn't a nice testament of an athletically involved school, than who knows what is.
"I love it. I love Auburn, the atmosphere, and pretty much everything about it. I'm glad I came."