NEWARK, Del. – Erica Johnson-Crell has joined the University of Delaware field hockey staff as an assistant coach in charge of goalkeepers, head coach Carol Miller announced today.

Throughout her professional career, Johnson-Crell has spent time working with area field hockey teams in both a coaching and consulting role. Prior to arriving at Delaware, she served in a goalkeeping consultant position at Lebanon Valley College. With the Flying Dutchmen, she helped implement and reorganize the defense that led the team to the 2004 Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament.

She has also served as the head goalkeeping coach with the United States Field Hockey Association Future’s Program in New Jersey for eight years and later served as an assistant coach for the program in Pennsylvania and Delaware. During her time in New Jersey, she designed and managed a state-wide initiative for goalkeepers that helped provide each athlete with individual attention.

This will be Johnson-Crell’s second year serving in a full-time capacity at the collegiate level. In 2003, she worked as a coach for Princeton and helped lead the Tigers to an undefeated season in the Ivy League and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Before joining the coaching ranks, she played field hockey at Old Dominion and Rutgers from 1995-98. While playing for the Scarlet Knights, she helped the team capture the 1997 ECAC championship.

After graduating with a degree in English and minor in biology, Johnson-Crell served as a goalkeeping coach for the Cherry Hill West, Montgomery, and Lenape High School teams in New Jersey from 2001-04. During the same period, she worked in advertising and marketing for several Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies.

Recently, Johnson-Crell has been inducted into the Cherry Hill West Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2007, she also had her first book published entitled “Mastering the Net: Field Hockey Goalkeeping Basics.”

Johnson-Crell resides in Wilmington, Del. with her husband, Barry, and their daughter, Jordan.