DULUTH — For the third consecutive season, Minnesota Duluth fifth-year senior goaltender Emma Soderberg is one of 11 semifinalists for the Women’s National Goalie of the Year Award.
Soderberg is one of four semifinalists from a year ago along with Providence sixth-year senior Sandra Abstreiter, Boston College fifth-year senior Abigail Levy and Clarkson junior Michelle Pasiechnyk. Abstreiter, of Germany, is a three-time semifinalist like Soderberg.
Other semifinalists from the WCHA include Minnesota sophomore Skylar Vetter and Wisconsin senior Cami Kronish. The full list can be found here .
Soderberg, the starting goaltender for the Swedish national team and 2022 Olympian, is tied for third in the NCAA in shutouts with seven. Soderberg needs two more shutouts this season to tie UMD’s career record of 20 and three more shutouts to tie the UMD single-season record of 10.
“I try to not to pay too much attention to it,” Soderberg said of the shutout records. “Typically when I see it, it’s on Twitter or something like that. It's exciting, but the end goal is still a national championship. And that's it. This is just a step on the way toward that. It’s still fun, but I want the team to succeed.”
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Among NCAA Division I goaltenders who have played 1,300 or more minutes, Soderberg’s 1.63 goals against average ranks fourth while her .929 save percentage ranks seventh.
Soderberg is the Bulldogs’ sixth-winningest goalie in program history and needs one more win to be the sixth with 50 or more career wins at UMD. The Bulldogs are at Minnesota State this weekend for games at 3 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in Mankato.
The Women’s National Goalie of the Year Award is in its third season. Northeastern’s Aerin Frankel won the first two years. The WCHA has yet to have a goaltender advance beyond the semifinals, and that includes Soderberg, who in her first year as a starter in 2020-21 was the WCHA Goaltender of the Year and an All-American.
Soderberg was a semifinalist a year ago despite missing 14 games while playing in and recovering from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
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