Erin McLeod

SMU Mustangs

McLeod attended Southern Methodist University and played for the Mustangs in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. In her rookie season, she made 84 saves and conceded 25 goals, ending the year off with a 14–4–0 record and six clean sheets. She recorded a 1.36 goals against average (GAA) for the season. In 2002, she made 85 saves and conceded 23 goals in 18 games. She ended the season with a 9–5–4 record and four clean sheets, making 4.72 saves per game and recording a 1.19 goals against average (GAA). During her career at SMU, McLeod played 38 games, starting 18. She had a career record of 23–9–4, with 10 clean sheets, 4.45 saves per game, and a 0.779 save percentage. She made 169 saves in the 3390 minutes she played for the Mustangs. McLeod was named to the All-WAC Tournament Team in 2001 and the Academic All-WAC Team in 2002. She received First Team All-WAC Honours and NSCAA All-Region Honours in both 2001 and 2002.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Following her role on the bench for the Canadian national team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, McLeod starting looking at other schools. After fellow Canadian international Carmelina Moscato told McLeod that Pennsylvania State University was looking for a goalkeeper, McLeod transferred to the school and played for the Nittany Lions for the 2004 and 2005 seasons while majoring in creative advertising. McLeod quickly took over the starting goalkeeper position for the 2004…

Vancouver Whitecaps

McLeod played with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-League in 2004 and 2006. While playing for the Whitecaps, the team never lost a game and she helped bring in the club's first championship victory in 2004. In the championship game, she made two saves in the penalty shootout and scored the game-winning penalty kick. In 2006, she helped the Whitecaps win a second W-League title after securing a clean sheet in the final against Ottawa Fury.

Washington Freedom

On April 16, 2009, the Washington Freedom announced they had signed McLeod as a post-International Draft discovery claim for the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer league. Though it was intended that McLeod would be the team's starting goalkeeper, visa issues kept her unavailable for the first five matches of the regular season. She made her first appearance for the team on May 17, 2009 and was the starting goalkeeper in all fifteen of her appearances. The Freedom finished in third place during the regular season with a 8–7–5 record, sending them to the playoffs. The team was defeated 2–1 by eventual champions Sky Blue FC in the first round. McLeod returned as the starting goalkeeper for the Freedom during the 2010 WPS season. She made fourteen appearances for the team before she suffered a season-ending ACL injury to her right knee in the 84th minute of a match against FC Gold Pride on July 24, 2010. The Freedom finished in fourth place during the regular season with a…

2001-2002: Youth level

In May 2000, McLeod was 1 of 40 players selected by the Canadian Soccer Association for a week-long training camp in Vancouver, BC for the newly formed Canadian women's under-19 and under-17 national teams. She was subsequently named to the under-17 roster. Later that year, McLeod was called up for the under-17 training camps in Nebraska and subsequent friendlies that took place in August. McLeod played in the under-19 team's first international tournament, the third annual adidas Cup, in May 2001. She started in goal for the May 29 match against China, which they lost 3–0. She was the starting goalkeeper in a match against Japan on May 31, helping to record the first international win for Canada's under-19 team. During Canada's final game of the tournament against Finland, McLeod was subbed in for Anne Ogundele during the second half. Canada lost 3–2, resulting in a tied third-place position. After McLeod was called up for an under-21 training camp in June 2001, she appeared in two friendlies against Mexico. Later in June, she was called up for an under-19 training camp in Toronto. Following the camp, the under-19 team took on the United States in two friendlies on June 30 and July 2. McLeod started in goal for both games, conceding twelve goals across both matches. McLeod was named to the 18-player roster for the under-21 Open Nordic Cup in Gjorvik, Norway held July 25–31, 2001. The team arrived a week before the tournament to train and…

Born to Cheryl and Doug McLeod in St. Albert, Alberta, a city near Edmonton, Erin was raised with her younger sister, Cara, and older sister, Megan. As a young girl, McLeod fell in love with hockey and the Edmonton Oilers. At the age of five, her family moved to Calgary, where she channelled her obsession into soccer. She quickly climbed the local soccer ranks and found herself a midfielder on a Calgary select team. At the age of 12, the goalkeeper on the team was injured and she stepped up for the spot. She would go on to play solely as a goalkeeper from this point.

McLeod's father, Doug, was an oil engineer, a job that required him to move around frequently. In 1997, when McLeod was 14, she and her family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where she spent both grades 9 and 10 at Jakarta Intercultural School. While in Jakarta, McLeod captained the under-15 Jakarta all-stars as the only girl on the team. She was able to greatly improve her game by playing with boys. She grew too old for the all-star team the following year and was left to play on the high school team with many girls who had never played soccer before. During the May 1998 riots in Indonesia, McLeod, then 15, and her family were forced to evacuate due to the impending danger. The main airport in Jakarta was too dangerous at the time and they were forced to fly out from a smaller airport, passing a long line of tanks on the way there. She noted that it "opened up [her] eyes to what's going on in the world" and that…