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| Date of birth | August 26, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Sycamore, IL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Sycamore High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Iowa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Erica Coulibaly (born August 26, 2001) is an American rugby union player. She plays primarily as a wing for the Denver Onyx of Women's Elite Rugby and USA women's national rugby union team. She played collegiately at the University of Iowa.
Coulibaly played soccer growing up in Sycamore, IL, earning accolades with the Sycamore Spartans soccer team. She attended the University of Iowa, and started playing rugby with their club team in 2020. She played in the back 3 for the Hawkeyes from 2020 to 2023, earning All-American honors from National Collegiate Rugby for the 2022–2023 season. [1]
After her collegiate career, she played with the Des Moines Rugby Club and then with the Colorado Gray Wolves in the back half of the 2024 season. Despite only playing half a season, Coulibaly was the league try leader and scored twice in the 2024 WPL championship match, helping the Gray Wolves defeat the Berkeley All Blues. [2]
In 2025, Coulibaly was named as a "Foundational 5" member of the Denver Onyx of the new Women's Elite Rugby league, with four of her Gray Wolves teammates. [3] Coulibaly finished second in tries in the league, as the Onyx won the inaugural WER championship. [4]
While playing with Iowa, Coulibaly caught the eye of USA Rugby scouts during a U23 sevens camp in Des Moines in 2023. [5] Her strong camp performance and excellent club play earned Coulibaly an invite to a national team ID camp in December 2024, and another in January 2025, where Coulibaly stood out to US coaches for her "speed and agility." [6] [7]
In April 2025, she was named to the USA senior women's national team for their spring tour. Coulibaly made her international debut in a test match against Japan at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles, scoring a try in the first half in a 33–39 Japan win. [8] [9] After appearing in another test match against Canada, she was named to the USA squad for the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025. [10] At the tournament, Coulibaly started as the US left winger in two of the three Pool A matches, a 31–31 draw against Australia and a 60–0 defeat of Samoa, in which she scored a try down the left wing. [11] [12]
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