MINNEAPOLIS -- Six Augsburg University women's hockey players earned 2024-25 postseason honors from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, it has been announced.

Defender Nora Stepan (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year, while also earning All-MIAC honors for the third straight year. Forward Emily Cronkhite (SR, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) was also named for the third straight year as an All-MIAC selection. Defender Grace Bonnell (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) and goalie Kayla Simonson (FY, Delano, Minn./Delano HS) were also named members of the 20-player All-MIAC team for the first time, and forward Aunna Schulte (FY, Bolingbrook, Ill./Plainfield East HS), Simonson and Stepan were named to the eight-player All-MIAC Playoff Team for their performances in Augsburg's two MIAC playoff victories. Defender Elizabeth Fagerlind was named as the recipient of the MIAC's Elite 22 Award for women's hockey for the second straight year.

Stepan's honor marks the fifth time that an Augsburg women's hockey player has earned an MIAC Player of the Year award in program history, and the first such honor since the 2019-20 season. Stepan leads the Auggies this season with 16 goals and 27 points, while tied for fourth on the team with 11 assists, with a team-high plus-27 plus-minus rating. Her 16 goals are third-most among MIAC players, while her 27 points are tied for fourth-most and her 11 assists are tied for 14th. Stepan's 16 goals are the most among all NCAA Division III defenders nationally, with her points total tied for fourth-most. Stepan was part of an Auggie defense that has allowed just 38 goals this season, the fewest among all MIAC teams and 16th-fewest among all NCAA Division III teams.

The MIAC Rookie of the Year in the 2022-23 season, Stepan has played in 80 games in her collegiate career, with 32 goals and 33 assists for 65 career points, a plus-63 plus-minus rating (second-best in program history), nine power-play goals and nine game-winning goals. She has had a goal or assist in 20 of Augsburg's 27 games this season

Cronkhite continued her career as one of the top all-around forwards in the conference, currently standing with nine goals and a team-best-tying 12 assists for 21 points, two power-play goals and a plus-7 plus-minus rating. She has scored a goal or had an assist in 13 of her 27 games this year, and is tied for 13th among MIAC players in total points and tied for ninth in assists.

Cronkhite has now played in 105 career games, tied for fourth in school history in games played. Her 49 career goals are tied for fourth-most in school history, while her 49 career assists for fifth-most. Her 98 career points are fourth-most in school history.

Bonnell has had a breakout campaign in 2024-25, with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points and a plus-18 plus-minus rating, tied for the team's lead in assists. She's had a goal or assist in 13 of her 26 games played this season, and her 12 assists are tied for ninth-most among MIAC players.

Bonnell has played in 52 games in her Augsburg career, with six goals and 16 assists for 22 points, three power-play goals, three game-winning goals and a plus-18 plus-minus rating.

Simonson has had one of the best seasons for a goalie in Augsburg women's hockey history, with a 14-3-0 record and five shutouts in 17 starts. She has a .946 save percentage (452 saves, 26 goals allowed) and 1.42 goals against-average. She stands second to teammate Marissa Paaske (JR, Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central HS) among MIAC goalies in goals against-average (Paaske is at 1.09), first in save percentage,  second with a 26.59 saves per-game average, and tied for first in shutouts. Her 14 victories stand third in a single season in Augsburg history, with her five shutouts tied for second-most.

Among NCAA Division III goalies nationally, Simonson stands 23rd in goals against-average, tied for 17th in save percentage, eighth in goalie winning percentage and tied for ninth in shutouts.

Schulte shined in her debut college season as a forward, scoring 11 goals with four assists for 15 points, two power-play goals, five game-winning goals and a plus-15 plus-minus rating. Her 11 goals are tied for second-most among Auggies, with her 15 points seventh-most. She scored a goal or assist in 12 of her 27 games played this season.

She has had a strong run in her last 10 games, with seven goals and two assists for nine points, carrying a four-game point-scoring streak. Schulte shined in the MIAC playoffs, scoring the game-winning goals in both games -- a goal and assist in a four-overtime, 3-2 semifinal victory over Saint Mary's on March 1, and two goals in the championship game, a 3-2 overtime win over Gustavus on March 8.

Fagerlind earned the MIAC's Elite 22 Award for women's hockey for the second straight year, as the student-athlete with the highest grade-point average among the five teams participating in the MIAC postseason playoffs. Fagerlind is an accounting and finance major with a 4.00 grade-point average. This season, she has scored a goal with three assists for four points, with a plus-2 plus-minus rating in 27 games. In her 105-game college career (tied for fourth-most games played in school history), Fagerlind has scored seven goals with 21 assists for 28 points, with three power-play goals, a shorthanded goal, two game-winning goals and a plus-18 plus-minus rating.

Fagerlind has earned American Hockey Coaches Association All-American Scholar honors three times, Academic All-MIAC honors twice and 2023-24 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors in hockey. Also a member of Augsburg's women's golf team, she has earned Women's Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar honors and Academic All-MIAC honors twice each, and was a CSC Academic All-District honoree last year.

Under first-year head coach Elizabeth Bauer, Augsburg enters its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III national playoffs with a 23-3-1 overall record, winning the MIAC regular-season title (16-2-0 MIAC) for the third time in school history and the MIAC playoff championship for the second time, both for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Augsburg's 23 wins are its most in the 30-season history of the women's hockey program. Augsburg will enter the NCAA Division III national playoffs as the top overall seed in the 12-team field, and will host St. Norbert College (Wis.) in a quarterfinal game this Saturday (3/22) at 3 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink.