MINNEAPOLIS -- After giving up the first two goals of the game in a 30-second span, the Augsburg University women's hockey team scored five straight goals, advancing to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff championship game with a 5-2 semifinal win over the College of Saint Benedict on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 5, Saint Benedict 2
LOCATION: Ed Saugestad Rink, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 18-6-2 overall, Saint Benedict 14-12-0 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Auggies fell behind 2-0 just 7:49 into the game, as the Bennies scored twice in a 30-second span, including a power-play goal. But Augsburg cut into the advantage at the 16:20 mark of the opening frame, as Kennedy Stein (JR, Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest HS) on a rebound off a breakaway shot by Emily Cronkhite (SO, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS), following a faceoff win by Katie Flynn (SR, Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge HS).
• Augsburg tied the game at the 11:56 mark of the second period. Nora Stepan (FY, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) took a pass in her own zone from goalie Chloe Stockinger (JR, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS), and found a streaking Jenna Gerold (SR, Farmington, Minn./Farmington HS) behind the Bennie defense, who flipped a shot over the goalie's shoulder for her sixth goal of the season.
• The Auggies took the lead for good at the 14:17 mark of the second period, as Flynn scored her 10th goal of the season, scoring in the slot off a right-side feed from Cronkhite. Stein had the second assist for her team-leading 19th helper of the year.
• Augsburg clinched the victory with two goals in the third period. Cronkhite scored her team-leading 15th goal of the season at the 6:00 mark, driving up the middle off a tap from Payton Allen (SR, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS), jumping to elude a defender and putting a wrist shot to the top corner of the net. An 5-on-3 power-play goal from Carleigh Drill (SR, Madison, Wis./Madison East HS) with 17 seconds left, assisted by Julianna Teske (JR, Warroad, Minn./Warroad HS) and Malia Schubert (JR, Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS), capped the win.
• Augsburg outshot Saint Benedict by a 47-22 margin -- its 12th game, and seventh in its last eight contests, with 40-plus shots on-goal. Stockinger had 20 saves in goal for the Auggies.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE 
• Competing in its seventh straight MIAC playoffs and 11th in program history, Augsburg has now advanced to its fourth playoff championship game. The Auggies won the MIAC playoff title in the first conference tournament held in 2000, and finished as runners-up in 2017 and 2020.

FOR THE FOES
• Sami Hackley scored a power-play goal from Presley Kraemer at the 7:19 mark of the first period, and Jenna Timm scored from Aurora Opsahl at the 7:49 mark, for the Bennies.
• Saint Benedict goalie Ally Frantzick had 42 saves.

UP NEXT
• The No. 2 seed in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, Augsburg will play in the MIAC title game next Saturday (3/4), against the winner of this Sunday's semifinal between No. 1-seed Gustavus and No. 5-seed Hamline.