MINNEAPOLIS – The Augsburg University women's hockey team claimed at least a share of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship, scoring a 3-1 victory over Saint Mary's University on Friday evening at Ed Saugestad Rink.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 3, Saint Mary's 1
LOCATION: Ed Saugestad Rink, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 20-3-1 overall (15-2-0 MIAC), Saint Mary's 15-9-0 overall (10-7-0 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• WIth the victory, combined with Gustavus Adolphus College's 2-1 loss to Hamline University on Friday, Augsburg has clinched at least a share of the MIAC regular-season title. The Auggies have 45 points, while second-place Gustavus has 42 points. Augsburg would need just one point in Saturday's (2/22) regular-season finale to win the title outright and claim the top seed in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs.
• The Auggies scored all the goals they would need in the opening 10:28 of play, then held on behind a superb goaltending effort by first-year Kayla Simonson (FY, Delano, Minn./Delano HS), who improved to 11-3-0 on the season with a 33-save effort. The Cardinals ended up outshooting the Auggies by a 34-26 margin in the game.
• Emily Cronkhite (SR, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 4:08 mark of the first period, firing a wrister from the point for her seventh goal of the year, off assists by Emma Abrahamson (SO, Carpentersville, Ill./Hampshire HS) and Tenley Stewart (JR, Esko, Minn./Esko HS).
• Aunna Schulte (FY, Bolingbrook, Minn./Plainfield East HS) gave the Auggies a 2-0 lead 1:28 later, stealing a Saint Mary's pass at her own blue line and sprinting up the ice on a 2-on-1 break for an unassisted goal, her eighth score of the year.
• Ella Olson (SO, Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) gave the Auggies a 3-0 lead at the 9:32 mark, scoring on a one-timer in the slot on a pass from behind the net by Annika Mielke (FY, Waconia, Minn./Waconia HS). Addy Milota (FY, Stoughton, Wis./Stoughton HS) had the second assist on the goal.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg claimed at least a share of its third MIAC regular-season championship in the 30-season history of the women's hockey program. Augsburg was a part of the first two MIAC regular-season titles, in 1998-99 (shared with Gustavus and Saint Mary's) and 1999-2000 (shared with Saint Mary's). Augsburg won the first MIAC postseason playoff title in 2000, advancing to finish second at the inaugural Division III national championship series, falling to Middlebury (Vt.) in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance finals in Boston, Mass.

FOR THE FOES
• Sophia Paduano scored for Saint Mary's on the power play at the 9:53 mark of the second period.
• Saint Mary's goalie Celeste Rimstad had 23 saves, including a save on a penalty-shot attempt in the first period.

UP NEXT
• Augsburg and Saint Mary's close the regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Winona, Minn.