Eric Kniple
Hometown: Davidson, NC
Position: Goalkeeper
Jersey: #42
School/Club: St. Lawrence University
Forget Fast. Improve Daily. Command Everything.
There is a particular kind of mental toughness required to play goalkeeper that nobody outside the position fully understands. One mistake, one moment of hesitation, one ball that slips through, and the scoreboard changes. The whole stadium sees it. Your teammates see it. And you have to stand back up, organize your defense, and be ready for the next one like it never happened.
Eric Kniple has figured out how to do that. And the way he has figured it out says a lot about who he is.
The Player
Eric is not quiet between the posts. He is a presence, a voice, a force that his defense can orient around.
"What really sets me apart is my communication and how I organize my defense."
That is the answer of a goalkeeper who understands that the position is not just about shot-stopping. It is about being the one person on the field with the full picture, the one who sees everything in front of him and uses that view to keep eleven players moving as one. Saves win moments. Organization wins matches.
At his best, Eric is dominant in his box, commanding crosses, making saves, and making sure every defender in front of him knows exactly where to be and why. That kind of presence is something you feel as a teammate before you even see it on the stat sheet.
Right now he is putting extra work into his distribution and his weaker foot. A goalkeeper who can play out from the back under pressure, who gives his team an extra option rather than just a long clearance, changes how the entire team can build. Eric is working to become that kind of goalkeeper, one who is a threat with his feet as much as his hands.
The Mindset
Ask Eric how he handles a bad game and you will get one of the most thoughtful answers on this roster.
"As a goalkeeper, we have to learn to forget things quickly."
But he does not stop there. Forgetting does not mean ignoring.
His reset process is deliberate and disciplined. He watches the film. He writes down what he should have done differently. He turns that into a specific training goal. And then he does something that is harder than it sounds: he watches the film like he is watching someone else play.
"So that I don't dwell on my mistakes."
That is not a trick. That is a genuine technique for separating self-worth from performance, for extracting the useful information from a bad moment without letting that moment become a story about who you are. For a goalkeeper, where the margin for error is razor thin and the emotional stakes of every mistake are immediate and public, that ability is not optional. It is what allows you to keep competing at a high level over a long season.
What He Found Here
Eric arrived in Statesville and found something he genuinely did not see coming.
"I've had people stop me in the street and share their love of the team."
In a first-year club. In a city that had no professional soccer history to speak of before this season. People are stopping players on the street.
That is the Herd. That is Statesville. And for a player who showed up not knowing what to expect from the community, that kind of welcome lands in a way that is hard to put into words.
The Standard He Holds
Eric carries a personal motto that he applies to every corner of his life, not just the game.
"Be better today than yesterday, and be better tomorrow than today."
He is quick to point out that this is not just about soccer. It is about being a kinder person. Studying harder in school. Showing up more fully in every room he is in. Improvement is not a switch you flip. It is a daily choice, made again and again, in training and in the classroom and in the way you treat the people around you.
That is a goalkeeper who is going to get better every single week of this season. And a person who is going to be better at the end of it than he was at the start.
Eric Kniple | Goalkeeper | Statesville FC 2026
