MINNEAPOLIS – The Augsburg University women's hockey team dominated play through most of the game, then held off a furious comeback attempt by St. Olaf College in the final minutes, as the Auggies extended their winning streak to nine straight games with a 3-2  Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference triumph on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 3, St. Olaf 2
LOCATION: Ed Saugestad Rink, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 16-2-1 overall (11-1-0 MIAC), St. Olaf 8-10-1 overall (5-6-1 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Augsburg built a 3-0 lead after two periods, outshooting the Oles by a 20-8 margin. But St. Olaf scored twice in a 2:32 span, including once on an extra-attacker goal, to tighten the margin. The Auggies, ranked No. 8 in the latest USCHO.com Division III national poll and No. 7 in the D-III Hockey News national poll, ended up outshooting the Oles by a 29-14 margin in the game.
• Emma Abrahamson (SO, Carpentersville, Ill./Hampshire HS) gave the Auggies the lead with her ninth goal of the season, scoring at the 16:07 mark of the first period on a rebound off a shot by Nora Stepan (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS).
• Stepan scored her 11th goal of the season 13 seconds into the second period, following the opening draw win by Ruby Eskin (FY, Minneapolis, Minn./Roseville HS) and a give-and-go pass from Grace Bonnell (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS), firing a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle.
• Aunna Schulte (FY, Bolingbrook, Ill./Plainfield East HS) completed a 2-on-1 break with a sprint up the right wing for a goal at the 7:59 mark of the second frame, assisted by Bonnell.
• Marissa Paaske (JR, Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central HS) had 12 saves in goal for the Auggies.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE 
• Augsburg's three seniors -- Emily Cronkhite (SR, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS), Elizabeth Fagerlind (SR, Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) and Kiley Wahlin (SR, Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) -- were honored in a postgame ceremony.

FOR THE FOES
• Molly Terebayza scored both goals for St. Olaf in the third period.
• Hannah Fritz had 12 saves in goal for the Oles, before being relieved in the second period by Baylyn Shankman, who stopped all 14 shots she faced.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg has an MIAC series against St. Catherine University next weekend, with next Friday's (2/7) game at 7 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink and next Saturday's (2/8) game at 2 p.m. at Drake Ice Arena in St. Paul, Minn.