ST. PAUL, Minn. -- For the second time in the last three seasons, Augsburg College won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer playoff championship, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament with a 1-0 win at the University of St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 1, St. Thomas 0
LOCATION: St. Thomas South Field, St. Paul, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 17-4-0 overall, St. Thomas 17-2-1 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Marta Anderson (SR, Mankato, Minn./Mankato East HS) scored the lone goal of the game at the 15:25 mark, claiming a loose ball and putting a shot from distance just above the St. Thomas goalkeeper to the top left corner of the goal, giving the Auggies a 1-0 lead.
• For the third straight game in the playoffs, Augsburg's defense held firm throughout, earning the team's 14th shutout of the season and the sixth for goalkeeper Marissa Guillou (JR, Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS), who had six saves. Augsburg defenders Emily Gregg (SR, River Falls, Wis.), Ashley Waalen (SR, Amery, Wis.) and Hannah Whitington (SR, Eagle Lake, Minn./Mankato East HS) played the full 90 minutes, and Trine Boeystad (FY, Rykkinn, Norway/Nadderud VGS) played 76 minutes.
• Augsburg outscored its opponents 5-0 in its three playoff victories.
• With the victory, Augsburg receives the MIAC's automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division III National Tournament. NCAA tournament bids will be announced on a webcast on Monday (11/7) at 12:30 p.m. (Central time) on the NCAA.com website.
• The MIAC playoff title and NCAA tournament berth are both Augsburg's second in school history. Augsburg won the MIAC regular-season and playoff titles in 2014, advancing to the second round of the national tourney. Augsburg has reached the MIAC postseason playoffs eight times in program history, including four times in the past six seasons.
• St. Thomas outshot Augsburg by a 9-5 margin in the game. Five Auggies had shots in the game, with three recording a shot on-goal -- Anderson, Boeystad and Ashley St. Aubin (FY, Burnsville, Minn.).

FOR THE FOES
• Taylor Skorik had three shots for St. Thomas, while Mallory DeBoom, Hailey Zweber and Elizabeth Muench had two shots each.
• Tarryn Theilig had two saves in goal for the Tommies.

QUOTES FROM AUGSBURG HEAD COACH MIKE NAVARRE
• "We're honored to win the MIAC playoffs and represent our great conference in the national tournament. St. Thomas is an outstanding team and they definitively have proven through their campaign that they deserve a bid to nationals."
• "This team was built on the backs of nine seniors, and they definitely led the way for us today. I'm just so proud of our program. Nothing great happens in athletics without a struggle, and our players had their share of adversity. But they persevered and the ultimately climbed the mountain -- and the view is beautiful."