MINNEAPOLIS – Nora Stepan (FY, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner 3:13 into overtime, lifting the Augsburg University women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over the top-ranked team in the country, defending NCAA Division III national runner-up Gustavus Adolphus College, in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series-opener on Friday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 3, Gustavus 2 (OT)
LOCATION: Ed Saugestad Rink, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 10-4-2 overall (7-1-1 MIAC), Gustavus 13-2-0 overall (8-1-0 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• With 1:47 left in the 3-on-3 overtime, Stepan scored on a one-timer in the slot off a cross-crease pass from Emily Cronkhite (SO, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS), with Katie Flynn (SR, Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge HS) starting the game-winning rush with a pass off the boards to Cronkhite.
• Trailing 1-0 early in the second period, Augsburg tied the game at 6:19 mark, as Flynn scored a power-play goal. Payton Allen (SR, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS) fed the puck to Kennedy Stein (JR, Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest HS) in the left faceoff circle, and she found Flynn in the slot for a one-timer goal. The power-play marker was just the third surrendered by the Gusties this season.
• Stepan gave the Auggies a 2-1 lead at the 9:45 mark of the second period, en route to her first career multi-goal game. She scored on a blast from the right point, assisted by Allen and Claire Jenkins Coffman (JR, Mount Pleasant, Wis./The Prairie School).
• Chloe Stockinger (JR, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS) had a tremendous game in goal, making numerous point-blank saves en route to a career-high 37-save effort. Gustavus outshot Augsburg by a 39-22 margin in the game.
• Augsburg had a great game on defense, blocking 12 Gustavus shots. Tenley Stewart (FY, Esko, Minn./Esko HS) had three blocked shots by Emily Schoeberl (FY, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) and Elizabeth Fagerlind (SO, Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) had two blocked shots each.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg extended its unbeaten streak to nine straight games, and is 8-0-1 in the span.
• Gustavus was ranked No. 1 in the latest USCHO.com Division III national poll, while Augsburg was receiving votes in the same poll.

FOR THE FOES
• Sophia Coltvet scored 54 seconds into the second period for Gustavus, and Brooke Power scored on a power-play goal at the 10:20 mark of the third period to tie the game at 2-2.
• Katie McCoy had 19 saves in goal for the Gusties.

UP NEXT
• The teams complete the MIAC series on Saturday (1/21) at 2 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.