For leading her team to a 24-3-1 record heading into the semifinals of the NCAA Division III women’s tournament, Elizabeth Bauer of Augsburg has been chosen by her peers as the 2025 CCM/AHCA Women’s Division III Coach of the Year.
It is the first time that an Augsburg coach has been so honored and just the second MIAC coach to win the award.
Bauer was named the third head coach in the 30-season history of Augsburg women’s hockey in Sept. 2024. Inheriting a team that had lost seven players to graduation and had 11 first-year players and two transfers on its 25-player roster for this campaign, with just three seniors, Bauer led the Auggies to the MIAC regular-season and playoff championships in the 2024-25 season — both for the first time for the Auggies since 1999-2000 — and Augsburg’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III national tournament. Augsburg’s 24-3-1 overall record and 16-2-0 MIAC marks are both program records.
She will receive her award at the AHCA Convention on May 5 in Bonita Springs, Fla.
Bauer served as the full-time assistant coach at Augsburg in the 2023-24 season, as the Auggies finished 19-7-0 overall and 15-3-0 in MIAC play. Prior to coming to Augsburg, Bauer spent two seasons as girls’ hockey director for MAP Hockey, an elite off-season training center for hockey players in the Twin Cities. She also spent a year as a sports performance trainer and facility director at St. Croix Acceleration, a training center in Hudson, Wis. From 2020 to 2023, she was an assistant coach for the U16 girls team for Team Wisconsin Hockey.
Bauer played her collegiate hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she helped lead the Blugolds to their first three national tournament berths, two WIAC O’Brien Cup tournament championships, and one WIAC championship, while posting an overall record of 80-26-9. Scoring 37 career goals and adding 66 assists for 103 total points, Bauer holds the Blugolds’ record for assists and ranks second in school history in points.
In 2019-20, Bauer was named a team captain and earned a spot on the American Hockey Coaches Association/CCM Hockey Division III All-America second team. She earned All-WIAC first team honors three times and honorable mention honors once and was an AHCA Division III all-American scholar in 2019-20.
Bauer has four siblings, including a twin sister Emily who played with her at UW-Eau Claire. Her brother played hockey at Minnesota-Crookston, and her father has been a high school hockey coach in Wisconsin for more than 30 years. A native of Wausau, Wis., Bauer earned her bachelor’s degree with a major in kinesiology and a minor in coaching from UW-Eau Claire in 2020.
Bauer was assisted this year by Nicole Neuberger and Annie Rydel.
The runner-up for this year’s award was last year’s recipient, Joe Cranston of UW-River Falls.
