RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- Augsburg University women's hockey student-athlete Elizabeth Fagerlind (SR, Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) was named as the recipient of the NCAA Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the NCAA Division III Women's Hockey National Championships, announced on Thursday.
 
Fagerlind is an accounting and finance major with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average. She also earned the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Elite 22 Award for women's hockey for the second straight year, honoring the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing in the MIAC playoffs. The awards were announced on Thursday evening during the NCAA Division III National Championships banquet in River Falls, host to the national semifinals and finals this weekend. Augsburg (24-3-1) will face host Wisconsin-River Falls (24-3-2) in the national semifinals on Friday (3/28) at 7 p.m.

It's the eighth time an Augsburg student-athlete has earned NCAA Elite 90 honors since the program started in the 2009-10 school year, and the first in women's hockey. Men's wrestler Blake Jagodzinske earned the honor in 2024, men's hockey player Austin Koss earned the honor in 2022, men's wrestler Victor Gliva earned the honor three straight years from 2018-20, Lauren Rice earned the honor for women's indoor track and field in 2014, and Tony Valek earned the honor for men's wrestling in 2012.
 
According to the NCAA: "The Elite 90 award honors the exceptional achievements of student-athletes. This prestigious accolade is given to those who have not only excelled at a national championship level in their sport, but have also achieved the highest academic standards among their peers. The Elite 90 is proudly awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships. Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above academically who have participated in a sport for at least two years with their school. All ties are broken by the number of credits completed."

A defender, Fagerlind has scored a goal with four assists for five points this season, with a plus-3 plus-minus rating in 28 games. In her 106-game college career (tied for  the most games played in school history), Fagerlind has scored seven goals with 22 assists for 29 points, with three power-play goals, a shorthanded goal, two game-winning goals and a plus-18 plus-minus rating.