Eastern Illinois University Athletics

2009: The freshman came off the bench in 33 games last season, 29 of which as a pinch-runner... one of ten players to account for double-digit run numbers as she crossed the plate 11 times, leading all four players who competed as a base-runner substitute... touched home for the official game-winning run in the Panthers’ final win of the season, coming in from third base off a single by Melinda Jackson, as EIU routed OVC foe Austin Peay in an 11-inning blowout... also rounded the bases off a homer by fellow classmate Amanda Bilina in one of the eason-opening tournament wins at New Mexico State, where the Panthers would eventually take the invitational title... went 1-for-2 in stolen base attempts, earning her first collegiate base theft at league rival Eastern Kentucky in late March.

HIGH SCHOOL: Monica was a four-year letter-winner for coach Chris Traina… also lettered four times in cheerleading and once in diving… team captain as a senior… helped lead Lemont HS to a school-record victory total in the IHSA playoffs after winning four straight conference titles and three regional crowns… set school diving records her senior year… elected team captain as a senior… also played for the Lemont Rockers OZ summer team, winning an ASA state title in 2007… with the Lemont Starlets gymnastics team, won all-around individual state championships in 2003 and 2004… LHS cheerleading team was state runner-ups from 2006-08.

PERSONAL: Her new No. 1 sports highlight came about last spring at EIU, “when I scored the game winning run off of Amanda Bilina’s home run at New Mexico State last year”... her family has been a major influence on her sports career “because both my parents are very athletic, my older sister is collegiate gymnast and all three of my brothers played football, soccer and baseball”… most admires her former coach Tod Osborne “because he is the only coach I know that his team means more to him than anything. He teaches more than just the physical part of the game”… her father was a football player and wrestler at John Carroll University in Ohio, her uncle Bill Letz played football at the University of Hawaii and was later drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, her sister Eileen is a gymnast at Winona State, and her cousin Lindsay Dillon plays tennis at Kennesaw State.

OFF THE FIELD WITH MONICA:
My major at EIU... kinesiology & sports studies
Daughter of... Bill & Maureen Strube
Favorite food dishes... chicken caesar salad
Nicknames... ‘Mon’, ‘Strube’ or ‘Strubes’
Favorite building on campus... Lantz
Don’t care to eat... seafood
Professor & class I’ve enjoyed... Mark Kattenbraker in kinesiology
Currently driving... a 1999 Toyota Camry
Besides sport, I enjoy... anything to do with arts & crafts
Fav professional sports teams... Chicago Bears & White Sox
Name of our family pet... ‘Fluffy’, a white cat