Carisa Zaban Wahlig - Women's Ice Hockey Coach

Carisa Zaban Wahlig

Title:
Head Coach
Phone:
401/863-1043
Email:
carisa_wahlig@brown.edu
Joined Brown:
Second Season
Alma Mater:
New Hampshire '00

Carisa Zaban Wahlig was named the head coach the Brown women's hockey program on April 27, 2018 and recently completed her second season with the Bears in 2019-20.

Her first year saw the Bears upset two ranked opponents, Colgate and Cornell, on back-to-back days. She also guided Sena Hanson to Honorable Mention All-Ivy honors and had multiple players earn ECAC Player of the Week laurels.

Prior to College Hill, Zaban Wahlig led the Lake Forest College women’s program for 13 seasons, where she was the school’s all-time winningest coach with a 201-101-39 record (135-65-32 NCHA). She took over the program that was 8-9-6 and 2-22-1 in the previous season and guided the team to winning seasons every year since the 2009-10 campaign. In her time with the Foresters, Zaban Wahlig was a three-time NCHA Coach of the Year (2010, 2013 and 2014), while leading the squad to conference regular season championships in 2010 and 2014 and tournament titles in 2014 and 2015.

Her team reached the NCAA Quarterfinal in both 2014 and 2015, and she was a finalist for the National Division III Coach of the Year in 2015. Zaban Wahlig’s teams have finished the season ranked in the top-10 nationally in 2010 and 2014-17, while finishing in the top-5 in scoring offense from 2013-18.

On the recruiting front, Zaban Wahlig has developed one Division III National Player of the Year (Laura Hurd Award in 2016) and four conference players of the year. She has guided 15 American Hockey Coaches Association West All-Americans, 53 NCHA All-Conference selections and 11 NCHA All-Freshman honorees. Academically, she has had 45 student-athletes earn NCHA Academic All-Conference laurels.

Prior to Lake Forest, Zaban 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.

Zaban 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 while graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2000. She completed her collegiate career as the school’s all-time leader in points. Zaban Wahlig 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, Zaban 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. Zaban 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.