Women's Hockey 1/10/03 -- Augsburg (Minn.) 6, Amherst (Mass.) 0 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/10/03) -- Lauren Chezick (So., Hastings, Minn.) netted her first career hat trick and had a five-point night, while Annie Annunziato (Jr., Commack, N.Y.) had a four-point night with two goals and two assists, as Augsburg College (Minn.) breezed to a 6-0 win over Amherst College (Mass.) in a nonconference women's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Augsburg set a single-game team record with three shorthanded goals in the third period, with Chezick setting her own single-game school mark with two shorthanded tallies. In all, Augsburg had five special-teams goals (two power-play, three shorthanded).

Augsburg improved to 6-7-1 overall and extended their unbeaten streak to four straight games (3-0-1). After starting the season 0-5, Augsburg has won six of its last nine games.

Amherst, in its last game of a three-game, four-day trip to play Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools, drops to 0-6-3 overall. Amherst went 0-2-1 on the trip.

With three goals and two assists Friday, Chezick tied a single-game points record with five, matching a mark set five times previously in Augsburg's eight seasons of women's hockey.

Chezick also moved into fourth place in school history in career points (49), fifth in career goals (20) and third in career assists (29) in just her second season as an Auggie. The school's career scoring records are all held by Angie Rieger (1997-01), with 68 goals, 52 assists and 120 points.

Annunziato, a transfer this season from Manhattanville (N.Y.), tied a single-season Augsburg record with her third shorthanded goal of the season, tying a mark set by Rieger in the 1999-2000 season. Rieger holds the school's career record for shorthanded goals with four.

Both Annunziato and Chezick are among the nation's leaders in scoring in Division III women's hockey, with 28 and 27 points, respectively. Both now have 13 goals this season, with both recording their third multi-goal games of the season on Friday. Chezick has scored at least a goal or assist in 13 of Augsburg's 14 games this season, while Annunziato has accomplished the same in 12 games.

Meanwhile, Augsburg goalie Katie Fedoryk (Jr., Austin, Minn.) recorded her third career shutout and first this season, making 22 saves.

After a scoreless first period, Augsburg dominated the rest of the game, claiming a 38-22 shots-on-goal edge, including a 13-2 advantage in the third period.

Chezick scored her first goal at the 5:03 mark of the second period, on feeds from Carrie Velenchenko (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) and Laura Hoffman (Jr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS). Annunziato scored on an unassisted breakaway at the 13:37 mark of the second.

All four of Augsburg's third-period goals came on special teams. Genevieve Allegrezza (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska/Service HS) scored a power-play goal from Chezick and Annunziato at the 4:07 mark. Augsburg scored twice in a 32-second span of one shorthanded situation, as Chezick scored from Annunziato and Melynda Kleewein (So., Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond HS) at the 9:43 mark, and Annunziato scored from Chezick at the 10:15 mark. Chezick completed her hat trick with a shorthanded goal at the 18:53 mark, from Erika Horner (So., Arvada, Colo./Pomona HS) and Kleewein.

Heidi Alexander (Sr., Edina, Minn.) made 32 saves in goal in a losing effort for Amherst, which has lost four of its last five games.

Augsburg finishes its nonconference week with a home game against Wisconsin-Superior on Saturday (1/11) at 1:05 p.m., at the Augsburg Ice Arena. Amherst returns home to Massachusetts to play a nonconference game at UMass-Boston on Wednesday (1/15) at 7 p.m.