Her Heart’s in Iraq

Feb 18, 2011

maggie Maggie Bauernfeind’s senior season is an exercise in compartmentalization.

Part of the time, she worries about her husband being deployed with an infantry unit in Iraq; the rest of the time, she’s scoring in double figures for the Cobber women’s basketball team.

“Basketball keeps my mind off what he’s doing,” says Bauernfeind ’11, Rosemount, Minn. “I focus on basketball. It’s a short-term, immediate goal. Something I can do everyday instead of worrying about what might be.”

Bauernfeind married her high school sweetheart in October in a small ceremony after the two decided they wanted to face their futures together.

He attended college before enlisting in the Army. He’s trained as a medic, which the couple hopes will lead to career choices after military service.

The two talk and see each other virtually everyday via Skype on their computers.

“It’s easier to talk with him than I thought,” she says. “The Army is really good about keeping families connected.”

Despite the distractions, Bauernfeind is having her best season at Concordia.

An All-Conference guard, she is in the top 15 in the MIAC in scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and three-point field goal percentage -- all testaments to her ability to compartmentalize her life. She recently scored her 1,000th point, becoming only the 24th player in program history to reach this milestone.

“I’m concentrating on basketball instead of thinking about Iraq,” she says. “But I have to credit my teammates. They know how important basketball is to me now, and they help me stay focused. We play and win as a team.”

A psychology major with minors in Scandinavian Studies and coaching, Bauernfeind says she won’t settle on a career until after her husband returns from Iraq in November, and they are stationed at an Army post in Kansas.

“We’ll probably plan a big wedding so all our friends and family can come, then we’ll sit down and look at the long term,” she says.

But for now, her focus is basketball. “We’re fighting for a conference championship. That’s our goal, that’s what on our minds.”
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Her Heart's in Iraq

Maggie Bauernfeind is having a phenomenal year on the basketball court, but her number one fan isn't in the stands. It's her husband who is across the globe serving in the United State Army in Iraq.

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