Women's Hockey 2/24/06 -- Concordia-Moorhead 3, Augsburg 2

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/24/06) -- Alyssa Dahl (Fr., Willmar, Minn.) scored the game-winning goal with 56 seconds left in regulation time, lifting Concordia College-Moorhead to a 3-2 victory over host Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Dahl scored from Kelsey Puffe (Fr., Moorhead, Minn.) at the 19:04 mark to break the tie, lifting the Cobbers to 6-13-3 overall, 6-9-2 in MIAC play. Augsburg is now 7-14-3 overall, 6-8-3 in MIAC play.

Despite the loss, Augsburg remains in the hunt for the final berth in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs. Entering Friday's play, Gustavus, St. Thomas and Bethel had already clinched playoff berths, and St. Olaf (11-13-0 overall, 9-8-0 MIAC, 18 points) clinched a playoff berth with a 7-0 victory over St. Catherine on Friday night.

Augsburg (15 MIAC points) will need a victory in its regular-season finale against Concordia on Saturday (2/25) at 2:15 p.m. at Augsburg, combined with a St. Mary's loss at Bethel on Saturday night, to clinch the final spot in the playoffs. St. Mary's (10-11-3 overall, 7-8-3 MIAC), which lost to Bethel 2-0 on Friday, has 17 MIAC points. Augsburg has a tiebreaker advantage over St. Mary's, based on a win and tie in the teams' series Dec. 2-3.

After a scoreless first period, Augsburg took the lead early in the second frame, as defender Christina Waller (Fr., Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) scored her first collegiate goal on assists from Calla Lundquist (Sr., Gillette, Wyo./Campbell County HS) and Jocelyn Cookson (Sr., Edina, Minn./Bloomington Jefferson HS).

But Concordia took the lead with two power-play goals, as Puffe scored an unassisted goal at the 6:38 mark and Hannah Impola (Jr., Brainerd, Minn.) scored from Stacy Hill (Fr., Cohasset, Minn./Grand Rapids HS) at the 19:29 mark.

Augsburg tied the game on a power-play goal from Jenny Schmidt (So., North St. Paul, Minn.), on an assist by Cookson, at the 14:53 mark. Following Dahl's goal, Augsburg pulled its goalie, but could not get a shot on goal in the final minute.

Concordia outshot Augsburg by a 22-17 margin. Jenna Johnson (Sr., Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS) made 15 saves for Concordia, while Amanda Bockmann (So., Wind Lake, Wis./Muskego HS) made 19 saves for Augsburg.