Olivia Soares joins the Bulldogs as an an assistant coach ahead of the 2024-2025 season, coming to Duluth from Union College, where she spent the last two seasons on the bench as an assistant coach.
Currently a USA Hockey National Development Camp coach for the past three years (2022-24), Soares helped Union College post the most overall and conference wins in a two-year stretch in the program's Division I history and steer the program to a pair of victories over nationally ranked teams. In 2022-23, Soares had a hand in helping Union to the most wins in a single season at the Division I level (11), and the team had one of its best stretches in the month of November, winning three games in overtime as part of a four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak, both the longest-ever in the program's Division I history.
"I am thrilled to have Olivia Soares join our coaching staff here at UMD," said Schuler about Soares. Olivia brings both WCHA playing and high coaching experience to the table, and has a great understanding of what it means to be a high performer. At OSU she was a two-year captain and a part of a growing program that was poised to make a national championship run her senior campaign. Since stepping into the coaching world, her leadership has played a pivotal role in guiding the teams she coached to historical and successful seasons, and I know she will have the same impact at UMD."
Prior to Union, Soares served as an assistant coach at Colby College during the 2021-22 season, where she helped to lead the Mules to the best season in program history. Colby set a program record for wins with a 16-6-1 record and earned their first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament, finishing the season eighth in the USCHO.com national rankings.
As a collegiate hockey player, Soares had a successful four-year career at Ohio State University from 2016-20, playing in 142 games for the Buckeyes. Soares was part of OSU's first-ever NCAA Tournament and Frozen Four Team in 2018, and served as both assistant captain as a junior before becoming a captain as a senior. Soares also led the team to the program's first Western Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament championship in 2020 before the NCAA Tournament was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A WCHA Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2018 and a three-time WCHA All-Academic Team selection, as well as a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Soares graduated from Ohio State in 2020 with a degree in education and earned her master's degree in sports management from OSU in 2021.
Soares, notably, becomes the first Black coach in the WCHA and is just one of two Black coaches in all of Division I women's hockey.
"I am honored and grateful to be joining the coaching staff at UMD," said Soares. "Returning to the WCHA now as a coach and being able to contribute to UMD's continued success is an incredible opportunity. I look forward to working alongside Head Coach Laura Schuler, Ashleigh, Justin, and the entire athletic department to ensure the best possible experience for our student-athletes here at Minnesota-Duluth. The rich history and pride surrounding Bulldog hockey is extremely motivating, and I am eager to get to work with such an esteemed program."
