Sandra Abstreiter

When Sandra Abstreiter took the ice for Providence College in the 2021 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, she made 41 saves against the Wisconsin Badgers — the team that would go on to win the national championship — in a 3-0 loss. It was the kind of performance that signals a career still finding its footing, and it came from a goaltender who had not played the position until she was 15 or 16 years old and was largely self-taught through YouTube videos.

Born in Freising, Germany, on July 23, 1998, Abstreiter came to goaltending from defense and built her foundation by watching footage of both professional and amateur goalies. Before Providence, she had already represented Germany at the U18 level, helping the program earn a silver medal at the 2015-16 U18 Women's World Championship. Her international career has continued to develop steadily: she has appeared in four Women's World Championships (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), and at the 2024 edition was named Top Goaltender after posting a .929 save percentage with one shutout across six games.

That recognition on the international stage came while Abstreiter was already part of the PWHL's Montréal Victoire, where she wears number 30. Germany qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics — the country's first appearance at the Games since Sochi in 2014 — a result she described with particular meaning on the InGoal Radio podcast. "It is even cooler that we did have to qualify and we did it," she said. "All of us that are most likely going to end up going to the Olympics, we did it for ourselves. We put the effort in, we got it done and we now get to go to represent our country at the Olympics." ^[1]

In preparation for both the PWHL season and the Olympics, Abstreiter spent nearly two months in Vancouver during the summer rather than returning to Germany, where ice access in the warmer months is limited. The decision was deliberate. "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," she explained on episode 327 of the InGoal Radio podcast ^[2]. That episode, her second appearance on the show, covered her off-season structure, her technical development — including her work integrating the Panda movement and her evolving use of the RVH — and her approach to making the most of goalie-unfriendly practice drills.

At the Victoire, Abstreiter has shared the crease with Anne-Renée Desbiens and has spoken openly about what she takes from those exchanges. Between Montréal and the German national team, she has five goalie partners in total. "All six of us play differently," she said. "It's never criticizing someone. It's more like, 'I think this could work' or 'Have you tried that?' It's a friendly exchange." ^[1] She has also noted that she and Desbiens have different default approaches — Desbiens favors the RVH more heavily, while Abstreiter draws from a wider range of techniques depending on the situation.

Through her first two PWHL seasons, Abstreiter appeared in approximately two games total, a reality she addressed directly in episode 327 ^[2]. Her stated goal heading into her third year with Montréal is more game time and a larger role. She also discussed the broader growth of German players in the league — three are now signed — and her interest in encouraging teammates back home, particularly those approaching the end of their college careers, to enter the PWHL draft.

Abstreiter also appeared on episode 286 of InGoal Radio alongside fellow PWHL goaltender Carly Jackson ^[3], and a Colin Hodd article for InGoal digs into her preparation, inspiration, and mindset heading into the Olympic year, available to InGoal subscribers ^[1].

InGoal Magazine has covered Sandra Abstreiter in two podcast appearances and one InGoal article.