Sandra Abstreiter

Sandra Abstreiter grew up in Freising, Germany, and has spent her career making a case for women's hockey on the international stage — including earning the Top Goaltender award at the 2024 Women's World Championships, where she posted a .929 save percentage and one shutout across six games. That recognition came after four consecutive World Championship appearances (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), a run that began in her final college season at Providence.

Abstreiter finished her NCAA career with the Friars by helping the program qualify for the 2021 NCAA National Tournament. She started in the quarterfinals against the University of Wisconsin — the eventual national champions — and made 41 saves in a 3-0 loss. Earlier in her career, she was part of the German squad that won a silver medal at the 2015-16 U18 Women's World Championship.

She currently wears number 30 for the Montréal Victoire of the PWHL. In the lead-up to the 2025-26 season — and with the Olympics on the horizon — Abstreiter spent close to two months in Vancouver to maintain her on-ice work. "At home in Germany, we don't have ice everywhere [in the summer]," she explained on Pro Tips with Sandra Abstreiter: German Olympian Talks Preparation, Inspiration and Mindset . "Especially this year with me wanting to make another step into the league and with Olympics coming up, I wanted to be as best prepared as possible."

Germany's Olympic qualification carried particular weight for her. The country had not appeared at the Winter Games since Sochi in 2014, and Abstreiter described the earned nature of the berth as part of what made it meaningful. "It is even cooler that we did have to qualify and we did it," she said Pro Tips with Sandra Abstreiter: German Olympian Talks Preparation, Inspiration and Mindset . "Because now, all of us that are most likely going to end up going to the Olympics, we did it for ourselves."

Between the Victoire and the German national program, Abstreiter works alongside five goaltending partners — including Canadian Olympian Anne-Renee Desbiens. She described the dynamic among that group in Pro Tips with Sandra Abstreiter: German Olympian Talks Preparation, Inspiration and Mindset  as one built on exchange rather than instruction: "It's never criticizing someone. It's more like, 'I think this could work' or 'Have you tried that?' It's a friendly exchange."

Her approach to high-pressure environments is grounded in a straightforward philosophy. "My big thing is that hockey is just hockey," she said Pro Tips with Sandra Abstreiter: German Olympian Talks Preparation, Inspiration and Mindset . "A practice, a game, national team, your club, whatever it is, it's still just hockey. And I love hockey."

InGoal Magazine has covered Sandra Abstreiter in two podcast appearances and one InGoal article. InGoal Radio Episode 286 with PWHL goalies Sandra Abstreiter and Carly Jackson Pro Tips with Sandra Abstreiter: German Olympian Talks Preparation, Inspiration and Mindset