Feature Friday: Dream Chaser

When Erin Seppi walked off the field after a season-ending loss to Michigan in the first round of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament, her desire to continue her soccer career in any way she could was ignited. 

The Monroe Township, New Jersey, native had just put together her best season of collegiate soccer, posting six shutouts and a .722 save percentage to help lead Maryland to its first-ever trip to the conference tournament and its best season under head coach Ray Leone. 

Even as the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns across the country and threw her senior year spring into a tailspin, Seppi remained committed to exploring her professional soccer dreams.  

“After our last game at Michigan I knew I wasn’t done, I did not feel like my tank was empty,” Seppi said. “I had committed myself then and just thought, ‘My parents are supportive, my whole family is supportive, if I have the opportunity this year to find a team that will take me on and allow me to continue my soccer career, I will go anywhere and I will compete with anyone.’”

Staying true to her mindset of “going anywhere”, Seppi landed her first professional opportunity in a country nearly 5,000 miles away: Romania. In October, Seppi signed a deal with FCU Olimpia Cluj, one of the top Romanian professional soccer clubs in the country. 

Without the sensational senior season that she had in 2019 for the Terrapins, it is unknown if Seppi would have jumped up to the professional level.

She helped lead the program to a landmark season. Maryland was ranked 13th in the preseason conference poll, but exceeded expectations with a sixth-place finish and earned a spot in the conference tournament for the first time in program history.

Maryland went 9-8-3 (5-5-1 B1G) and its nine wins were the most for the Terps since 2013 and the most ever under Leone, who credits Seppi with being a big part of that success. 

“She was more than ready to step in as the starter last season,” said Leone. “She was one of the few players on our team who experienced elite college soccer in both the ACC and Big Ten after transferring in from Boston College as a freshman. That experience seeing so many high level players really provided her with incredible experience and confidence.”

Goalkeeper coach Kerry Dziczkaniec was immediately impressed with Seppi during her first season as an assistant for the Terps under Leone and saw her potential to put together a breakout year in her first season entrenched as the starter.     

“She has a positive edge to her and great communication skills, which you don’t always see,” Dziczkaniec said. “She talks the talk and walks the walk, and ultimately just wants to do whatever it takes to help her team win games.”

While still holding the dream of playing at the professional level over the spring and summer, Seppi figured out ways to continue working on her game while stuck at home.

“I spent time with family, worked out and played as much soccer as I could, but it’s very hard to find the equivalent of college soccer and then try to lead into professional soccer in my hometown, or even anywhere that’s not a college, so that was a struggle,” Seppi said. “I did at-home workouts, like juggling the ball in my backyard and my dad kicked the ball at me for goalkeeper training. I was just trying to stay fit and keep up with soccer skills and not get rusty.”

After training at home for months, Seppi waited anxiously for every transfer window, hoping that she would find a team that wanted her.

“I tried really hard to stay focused on the next opportunity, the next transfer window, believing a team is going to want me,” Seppi said. “Then in the middle of July there was word that teams were finally allowing Americans over to Europe.”

It was not until early October that Seppi got the call from a team across the Atlantic and without any hesitation, she was ready to go.

“I got the phone call and I was like ‘I’m coming,’” she said. “I'm not someone who is nervous; I really love change. I love putting myself in uncomfortable situations.”

She got pulled into FCU Olimpia Cluj at the end of its season, before the Champions League play started up for the club. The team brought in players for the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, which starts in November, allowing Seppi to make the trip over in early October.

“It’s perfect, I’m going to a team that’s very talented, known to have a very good coaching staff, and they’re also known to bring in American players,” Seppi explained. “The staff has a reputation of helping U.S. players, introducing them to European soccer and making them better. 

“You can’t really get better than this and to compete in the Champions League, or even just train with the girls who are competing in the Champions League and potentially have playing time on my first professional team is just amazing.”

For Seppi, "potentially having playing time" quickly turned into a starting job, and before she knew it she was on the field with Olimpia Cluj in the team's opening game of Champions League play on November 3. After shaking off some initial nerves the American transfer settled in, notching her first win as a pro in a 2-1 opening-round win over Maltese club Birkirkara. Not bad for a rookie with one month of pro experience and a language barrier to overcome.

Seppi arrived in Europe in early October and was immediately forced to adjust to the culture, language and everything else that comes with living in another country. She’s able to speak some English to her Romanian teammates, while they’re helping her learn the native language. 

“The coaching staff translates mostly everything for me,” Seppi said. “They're very personable, so they'll talk to you when they're coaching and explain it and move on and that’s helpful as well. The biggest thing is when we are in scrimmages when everything is fast paced and I need to be speaking quickly, that's where I'm having a little trouble.”

Seppi does about two hours of language studying, or looking up words, everyday to better her vocabulary and ease the transition to communicating better with her teammates. Her and some teammates sit in front of a computer and talk to a Romanian teammate. They try to have conversations with them and they are doing everything they can to pick up on key words and learn the language as quickly as they can.

While having to learn an entirely new language just to communicate with teammates, Seppi is also adjusting to living in a new country and playing on a professional team for the first time.

“My short term goal right now, because it’s my first team, is to be able to compete on the field with them,” Seppi stated. “I would love to obviously get a starting position, which would be amazing, but it’s totally different soccer and such a more different experience than college soccer was. So I’m here to learn and figure out what I need to do to become a next level player, and what I need to do to earn that starting spot, whether it’s here or at another team in the future.”

As Seppi takes the next step into becoming a professional soccer player, she will never forget what her coaches at Maryland meant to her progression as a person and player.

“I’m so thankful for the three years I was at Maryland and the one year that Kerry and Ron were my coaches, they gave me so much confidence,” she said. “Kerry especially just helped me so much. But, I have to give them credit because I would not have gotten anywhere close to here without all three of them.”

Leone is excited to see Seppi get the chance to play for a pro team, his second goalkeeper to sign a professional contract in the past two years after former two-time All-Big Ten goalkeeper Rachel Egyed signed with Hapoel Ra'Anana AFC of the Israeli Women's Premier League in 2018. 

“I am so happy for her,” said Leone. “You can only play professionally for a short amount of time, everyone’s window is different but you never really know how long your career will last. But with how much Erin loves the game, she’ll never have any regrets of not going for or taking a chance. I’m thrilled that she’s going for it.”

Seppi’s teammates at Maryland also instilled something in her to help her get to the next level.

“I remind myself everyday about the girls on our team, my teammates, they gave me so much confidence,” said Seppi. “I feel like they sparked potential in me, showing that I could eventually move up and play professionally.”

Through graduating college, training at home and moving to a professional team halfway across the world, Seppi’s mindset has remained the same as it has always been because of her time in College Park.

“My mindset was to never give up,” Seppi said. “It was more like I cannot sacrifice this dream that I've had since I was so little. And knowing the feeling I had after the Michigan game, I wanted to keep playing and I didn't want to let go of that feeling.”