ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Augsburg University secured the No. 3 position in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's hockey postseason playoffs, completing a series sweep of St. Catherine University with a 3-1 win on Saturday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 3, St. Catherine 1
LOCATION: Drake Ice Arena, St. Paul, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 14-6-3 overall (9-4-3 MIAC), St. Catherine 6-16-1 overall (5-10-1 MIAC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Augsburg built a 3-0 lead early in the second period and only surrendered a St. Catherine goal in the final minute of play. 
• Mackenzie Molnar (SO. Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) opened the scoring for the Auggies with a power-play goal from Megan Johnson (JR, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) and Valerie Whichello (JR, Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge HS) at the 7:58 mark of the first period.
• Augsburg scored twice in a 2:23 span early in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. Jacie Hoehn (JR, Waseca, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) scored from Hollywood Hermanson (SO, Dover, Minn./Dover-Eyota HS) at the 3:37 mark, and Nikki Nightengale (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) scored her second goal of the weekend at the 6:00 mark, a power-play marker from Taral Clayton (SR, Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond HS).
• Augsburg outshot St. Catherine by a 36-20 margin on Saturday, for a 77-45 shots edge on the weekend. Whichello's 10 shots on-goal led the Auggies.
• Rebecca Sonnek (SR, Edina, Minn./Edina HS) claimed 19 saves in goal for the Auggies, improving to 6-5-2 on the year.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• With the series sweep, Augsburg clinched the third spot in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, standing with 21 league points with its final series of the regular season against Concordia-Moorhead next weekend. The Cobbers are the next team behind Augsburg in the standings, with 15 league points.
• Should the standings hold after the final weekend, Augsburg would be the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, based on its head-to-head finish against current No. 2-seed Gustavus (tie and loss), and would play in a playoff semifinal game at either Gustavus or Hamline on Saturday, Feb. 24. Gustavus has 25 points and faces Saint Benedict next weekend, while Hamline has 27 points and faces St. Thomas next weekend. Teams get two points for a win and one for a tie in the MIAC women's hockey table.

FOR THE FOES
• Sarah Brakke scored the lone goal of the game for St. Catherine at the 19:12 mark of the third period, assisted by Emilee Anderson and Tori Thompson.
• Bryce Boreen had 12 saves in 26 minutes in goal, with Kristen Pechacek recording 21 saves in relief.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg finishes the regular season with a home series against Concordia-Moorhead next weekend at Ed Saugestad Rink. Next Friday's (2/16) game is at 7 p.m., and next Saturday's (2/17) game is at 2 p.m.
• St. Catherine closes the regular season with a series against Bethel next weekend.