MINNEAPOLIS – Nora Stepan (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) completed her first collegiate hat trick with a goal 1:38 into overtime, giving the No. 8-ranked Augsburg University women's hockey team a 4-3 victory and a sweep of a key Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's hockey series on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 4, Hamline 3 (OT)
LOCATION: TRIA Rink, St. Paul, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 14-2-1 overall (9-1-0 MIAC), Hamline 10-7-0 overall (5-5-0 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Augsburg rallied from a 3-1 deficit after two periods to tie the game and force overtime, and Stepan gave the Auggies the victory at the 1:38 mark of the 3-on-3 overtime, driving up the middle off a pass from Jenna Allen (FY, Minnetonka, Minn./Holy Family Catholic HS) and firing a rising wrist shot from the high slot for her ninth goal of the season.
• Stepan cut the Pipers' lead to 3-2 with a power-play goal at the 1:29 mark of the third period, on a counter-attack off a Hamline shot and save by goalie Kayla Simonson (FY, Delano, Minn./Delano HS). Stepan picked up the puck at her own goal line off a drop by Grace Bonnell (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) and drove the length of the ice, eluding a pair of Hamline defenders and depositing the puck in the net from the right faceoff dot.
• Augsburg tied the game with 2:42 left in regulation, with Ruby Eskin (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./Roseville HS) scoring her seventh goal of the season off a rebound of a shot by Stepan on a scramble in front.
• Stepan's first goal came on the power-play at the 8:34 mark of the first period, on a shot from the point off passes from Tenley Stewart (JR, Esko, Minn./Esko HS) and Aunna Schulte (FY, Bolingbrook, Ill./Plainfield East HS).
• For the second straight night, Augsburg was outshot by the Pipers, this time by a 39-25 margin. But Simonson, playing in her second straight game in goal, came up with 36 saves to improve to 8-2-0 on the season.
• Augsburg entered the week ranked No. 8 in both the latest USCHO.com and D-III Hockey News Division III national polls, while Hamline was ranked No. 15 in the D-III Hockey News poll and was receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll.

FOR THE FOES
• Kylie Huseth, Ashlyn Abrahamson and Abigail Chamernick scored goals for Hamline, with Abrahamson adding an assist for a two-point night.
• Kendra Nordick had 21 saves in goal.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg has an MIAC series against St. Olaf College next weekend, with next Friday's (1/31) game at 6 p.m. in Northfield, Minn., and next Saturday's (2/1) game at 4 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink.