Olivia Soares finished her second season as an assistant coach with the Union women's hockey program in 2023-24.
With Soares on the bench, the last two seasons have seen Union take steps forward in terms of both wins and national competitiveness, posting the most overall and conference wins in a two-year stretch in the program's Division I history and earning a pair of victories over nationally ranked teams.
In her first season, Union had one of the best seasons in program history in 2022-23, posting the most wins in a single season at the Division I level with an 11-22-1 record. 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. Union also earned its first win over a nationally ranked opponent with a 4-1 victory over #15 Princeton University and won the season series with Harvard University (1-0-1) for the first time ever.
At the time of her hiring, Soares was one of only two black female coaches in NCAA Division I hockey, joining Nina Rodgers at fellow ECAC Hockey institution Dartmouth College.
READ MORE: Soares Loving Transition from Player to Assistant Coach
Soares came to Union after serving as an assistant coach at Colby College, where she helped to lead the Mules to the best season in program history in her first year. 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.
Prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Soares was a four-year member of the women's hockey team at The Ohio State University from 2016-20, playing in 142 games for the Buckeyes over her career. She served as an assistant captain as a junior and moved into the captain's role as a senior, leading the team to the program's first WCHA Tournament championship before the NCAA Tournament was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A WCHA Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2018 and was a three-time conference All-Academic Team selection, 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.
