Jennifer Wilson
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- Title:
- Head Coach
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- Phone:
- 847-735-6142
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- Email:
- jwilson@lakeforest.edu
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The 2023-24 season will be the sixth for Jennifer Wilson as the head coach of the Foresters and 11th working with athletes at the collegiate level.
Wilson has compiled an overall record of 63-43-10 and an NCHA mark of 46-21-7 in her five years at the College. The Foresters have qualified for the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Slaats Cup Playoffs each year and reached the event's semifinal round four times.
Goaltender Hannah Turnage repeated as an All-NCHA selection while Willow Poppleton was named to the NCHA All-Freshman Team in 2022-23. Wilson now has eight all-conference selections and four NCHA All-Freshman Team honorees in her five seasons as head coach. In addition, a dozen Foresters earned NCHA All-Academic Team accolades, raising the program's total during Wilson's tenure to 59.
Lake Forest outscored opponents 83-50 in 2022-23 and has been extremely successul statistically since Wilson took over as head coach. Amy Budde tied for third in the NCHA with 33 points in 2018-19, Sydney Simone shared the national lead with four short-handed goals in 2019-20, and goaltender Jacque Rogers graduated in 2020 as the program's career leader with a 1.49 goals against average, .939 save percentage, 51 victories, and 22 shutouts.
Wilson came to Lake Forest from NCAA Division III Buffalo State, a member of the Northeast Women's Hockey League. The Bengals posted a 13-11-2 overall record in 2017-18, Wilson's only season at the helm of the program. The team was 9-6-1 in conference play and earned a home game in the inaugural NEWHL playoffs by placing second in the standings behind perennial national power Plattsburgh State.
Prior to her time at Buffalo State, Wilson spent a pair of seasons as the head coach at ACHA Division I Robert Morris University in Chicago and associate head coach at the high school level at Loyola Academy. She helped lead Robert Morris to the Eagles' first appearance in the conference tournament semifinals in four years and Loyola to a state title and runner-up finish.
Wilson's coaching career began at NCAA Division II St. Michael's in Vermont, where she was an assistant for two seasons. She helped lead the Knights to their first postseason appearance in the program's 12-year history and was selected as an intern coach for the U15 National Development Camp in St. Cloud, Minn. Wilson remains active with USA Hockey as a certified level 4 coach and has additional experience as a talent evaluator, instructor, and coach for several high-level state programs and showcases.
Wilson began her collegiate playing career at NCAA Division III Manhattanville College, where she was part of the 2006 ECAC-East Championship team that posted a 23-4-1 record. She played her final two years at Robert Morris, where she served as an assistant captain and amassed 49 points on 22 goals and 27 assists in 68 games. The Manitowoc, Wisconsin, native was also one of the state's top high school players and was selected to Team Wisconsin for the Chicago Showcase.
She earned her bachelor's degree in marketing and television writing from Columbia College in Chicago and earned a master's in sports administration from Robert Morris.
Wilson lives in Lake Forest.
