Notre Dame Hounds Female Hockey Coordinator and U18 AAA head coach Sarah Hodges played a pivotal role in Austria's gold medal victory at the 2025 IIHF Division 1A World Women's Hockey Championships in Shenzhen, China. 

The Austrians went undefeated through the six-team competition, winning tournament gold and securing promotion to the top division of the IIHF World Championships for the first time in the program’s history.

Hodges was appointed as an assistant coach for the Austrian national team in late 2024, helping guide the team to a third-place pool finish at the Olympic Qualification tournament in Germany in February.

Austria and Denmark have secured promotion to the top division at the 2026 World Championships. The host city for the tournament will be announced at the IIHF semi-annual congress later this spring.