Carisa Wahlig
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- Title:
- Head Coach
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- Phone:
- 847-735-6135
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- Email:
- wahlig@lakeforest.edu
The 2017-18 season will be Carisa Wahlig’s 13th at the helm of the Forester program. She is easliy the Foresters’ all-time winningest coach with a 181-100-39 overall record and 120-62-32 mark in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play.
Wahlig led the 2016-17 Foresters to a program record 21 victories against just six losses and a tie. The team finished second in the NCHA standings with a league record of 14-3-1 and reached the championship game of the NCHA Slaats Cup Playoffs for the third time in the last four years. Lake Forest has advanced to at least the semifinal round of the conference tournament in 10 of Wahlig's 12 seasons with the program.
Forester Kayla Griffith was named Second Team CCM Hockey West All-American in 2016-17. Four Lake Forest forwards, three defensemen, and two goaltenders have been named All-American a combined 14 times since Wahlig took over as head coach. Among them is Michelle Greeneway, who was the recipient of the 2016 Laura Hurd Award, given by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the national player of the year.
Griffith was one of five Lake Forest players to be named All-NCHA in 2017 and the Foresters claimed four of the six spots on the NCHA All-Freshman Team. Twenty-eight different players have earned a combined 49 All-NCHA honors, including 29 first team distinctions, in Wahlig’s 12 years as head coach. In addition, nine Forester rookies have been honored in the six years the league has named an All-Freshman Team.
Seven program records were set or tied during the 2016-17 season, including the Foresters' 16-game unbeaten streak from November 18 through February 12. The total number of team records established or matched during Wahlig’s 11 years now stands at 47.
Wahlig led the 2014-15 Foresters to their second consecutive NCHA Slaats Cup title and berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Lake Forest was also the league's regular season champion in 2009-10 and 2013-14. She was named NCHA Coach of the Year in 2010, 2013, and 2014.
Prior to coming to Lake Forest, Wahlig spent the 2004-05 season as the head coach of Team Illinois Under-19 program and the previous year as an assistant coach at Glenbrook High School where she helped the team claim a league championship. Her coaching career actually started at the age of 13 when she began instructing and continued at numerous camps and clinics during her playing career.
Wahlig grew up in Glenview, Illinois, and attended Glenbrook South High School. She played college hockey at the University of New Hampshire and was the team’s leading scorer all four years. She completed her collegiate career as the school’s all-time leader in points. She earned First Team All-American honors, was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, and helped lead the Wildcats to a pair of Division I national championships. After graduating from New Hampshire, Wahlig won a silver medal at the 2001 World Championships with the U.S. National Team and was a member of the 2002 Pre-Olympic team. She then played professionally in Switzerland, where she was the league’s leading scorer. Wahlig later joined the USA Women’s National Roller Hockey team and earned a gold medal at the 2003 World Championships.
She and her husband Alex have two children, Alex and Watson.
