UMD Bulldogs "ALLETE" Moments: Competition
Throughout this year, UMD Athletics is partnering with Minnesota Power, ALLETE to highlight the Bulldogs accomplishments in the 3 C's: Classroom, Competition, Community. 

Cue more Western Collegiate Hockey Association accolades for Emma Soderberg.

One day after being named a top-3 finalist for WCHA Goaltender of the Year, the graduate netminder has again been named a top-3 finalist -- this time for WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year.

Soderberg has had one of the best seasons in the nation from the goaltending position, and currently leads the NCAA with 11 shutouts. The Jarved, Sweden native ranks third in the NCAA and first in the WCHA with a 1.35 goals against average, and sits fourth in the NCAA and on top of the WCHA with a .938 saves percentage. Twice the league's goaltender of the month, Soderberg was a four-time WCHA Goaltender of the Week.

With Soderberg between the pipes, UMD owns the third lowest scoring defense average in the nation (1.33), and owns the NCAA's most team shutouts at 13 -- a program-record --12 of which Soderberg has been a part of and 11 that outright belong to the netminder. The Bulldogs also own the best penalty kill percentage in the league at 87.9 -- which doubles as the 10th lowest in the nation. 

Soderberg has assaulted the program record books this season, taking over the career shutout mark, which she has already pushed to 22 --  the eighth most in WCHA history. With 11 shutouts, Soderberg also took over the single-season shutout mark at UMD that doubles as the seventh-best shutout total by a league goaltender in five seasons. Boasting of season GAA of 1.35, Soderberg currently sits second in program single-season history with the lowest goals against average, and  her .934 career saves percentage not only would rank her second at UMD among goaltenders with 1,000 or more saves, but eighth in the entire history of WCHA.

In the classroom, Soderberg has had just as much success, and was just last month named a 2022-23 WCHA Scholar Athlete, an honor she has earned the past four seasons. WIth four All-WCHA Academic Team nods, Soderberg is also a twice been named to the Division I Krampada All-American Scholars list. Soderberg was a graduate in May of 2022 with a degree in management, and is currently enrolled as a postgraduate undergrad studying economics.

The WCHA will name its Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year Thursday at 11am, followed by the WCHA's Player of Year announcement at noon.

About Minnesota Power, ALLETE:
Our bold vision centers on our commitment to climate, customers and communities. We're a clean-energy leader under our EnergyForward strategy, already delivering 50% renewable energy ahead of all other Minnesota utilities. Now we're doubling down on that with a vision to deliver 100% carbon-free energy to customers reliably and affordably by 2050. Learn more at: https://www.mnpower.com/CarbonFreeEnergyVision