ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- With its seventh shutout win of the season in a 3-0 triumph over the College of Saint Benedict on Saturday, the Augsburg College women's hockey team claimed its best regular-season finish in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play since the 1999-2000 season, finishing in second place in the conference standings.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 4, Saint Benedict 0
LOCATION: Municipal Athletic Complex, St. Cloud, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 18-7-0 overall (14-4-0 MIAC), Saint Benedict 4-18-3 overall (1-14-3 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Despite outshooting Saint Benedict by a 32-10 margin through two periods, the game was a close one, as Darby Lindgren's (SR, Lakeville, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary's HS) first-period unassisted goal was the lone tally on the scoreboard. But the Auggies scored twice in the first 6:17 of the third period to pull away from the Blazers, outshooting the hosts by a 42-12 margin in the game.
• Nikki Nightengale (FY, Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) scored a power-play goal from Mackenzie Molnar (FY, Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) at the 3:42 mark of the third period, and Megan Johnson (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) scored from Valerie Whichello (SO, Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge HS) and Ashley Kloncz (SR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) at the 6:17 mark.
• Nine different Auggies had three or more shots on-goal in the game, led by Molnar's five shots.
• Rebecca Sonnek (JR, Edina, Minn.) had 12 saves in 53 minutes in goal for the Auggies, with McKenna Manalli (SO, Byron, Ill.) played the final seven minutes without facing a shot.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• With the win, Augsburg clinched its best MIAC regular-season finish since the 1999-2000 campaign, when the Auggies finished 21-7-1 overall and 12-1-1 in MIAC play, winning the MIAC regular-season and playoff titles en route to a runner-up finish at the American Women's College Hockey Alliance Division III national finals.
• As the No. 2 seed in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, the Auggies will host No. 3-seed Concordia-Moorhead next Saturday (2/25) at Ed Saugestad Rink.
• Augsburg ended the regular season as the second-best offense and second-best defense among MIAC teams in overall statistics, scoring 69 goals while allowing 35.
• Sonnek ended the regular season in the No. 2 spot in all three goalkeeping statistics -- goals against-average (1.25), save percentage (.945) and winning percentage (.714). Her 15 wins (15-6-0) are tops among all MIAC goalies.

FOR THE FOES
• Julia Carle had 39 saves in goal for Saint Benedict.
• Elli Marvin had four shots on-goal for the Blazers, while Jessica Malloy had two shots.