ST. PAUL, Minn. – Behind the second career hat trick for forward Emily Cronkhite (JR, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS), the Augsburg University women's hockey team opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7-1 victory over St. Catherine University on Friday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 7, St. Catherine 1
LOCATION: Drake Arena, St. Paul, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 2-2-0 overall (1-0-0 MIAC), St. Catherine 2-3-0 overall (0-1-0 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Augsburg jumped on the scoreboard early and often, scoring four goals in the opening 6:18 of play to take a lead it would not relinquish. Emily Schoeberl (SO, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) opened the scoring at the 2:59 mark of the game, followed 35 seconds later by a goal from Kiley Wahlin (JR, Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace HS). Seventy-five seconds later, Sydney Rydel (SR, Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) gave the Auggies a 3-0 lead, and Cronkhite notched her first goal of the game at the 6:18 mark. Malia Schubert (SR, Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) assisted on the last three Auggie goals of the opening stanza.
• Cronkhite completed her hat trick with two unassisted, special teams goals in the second period -- a shorthanded goal at the 9:58 mark and a power-play goal at the 14:15 mark. Ella Olson (FY, Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) capped the Auggie scoring with a power-play goal from Schoeberl and Elizabeth Fagerlind (JR, Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) in the third period. Fagerlind had two assists in the game.
• Augsburg outshot St. Catherine by a 32-14 margin in the game, including a 24-10 advantage through the first two periods.
• Chloe Stockinger (SR, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS) stopped 13 of the 14 shots she faced in goal for the Auggies.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
• Augsburg has now recorded 38 hat tricks in the 29-year history of the women's hockey program (against NCAA varsity opponents only), by 25 different players. Cronkhite is now one of seven Auggies to record multiple hat tricks in their careers; the school record is five, by Angie Rieger (1997-2001).

FOR THE FOES
• Abby Pirkl scored from Lilly Gillespie and Raechel Painovich late in the first period for the lone goal for St. Catherine.
• Abby Severson had 17 saves in 34 minutes in goal, with Anna Friendshuh collecting eight saves in relief.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg will aim for the series sweep of St. Catherine on Saturday (11/11) at 4 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink.