RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The historic 2024-25 season for the Augsburg women's hockey team came to an end in the NCAA Division III national playoff semifinals, as the Auggies lost a 4-2 decision to the defending national champion University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Friday evening at Hunt Arena.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Wisconsin-River Falls 4, Augsburg 2
LOCATION: Hunt Arena, River Falls, Wis.
RECORDS: Augsburg 24-4-1 overall, UW-River Falls 25-3-2 overall
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Trailing 1-0 after a Alexa Niccum goal 3:41 into the contest, Augsburg tied the game with a goal from
Livia Brehm (JR, Detroit Lakes, Minn./Stillwater HS). Brehm eluded a defender in the left faceoff circle, and while losing a skate edge, flipped a wrist shot to the top right corner of the net for her fifth goal of the season.
Aunna Schulte (FY, Bolingbrook, Minn./Plainfield East HS) and second-team All-American
Emily Cronkhite (SR, Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) were credited with assists on the goal.
• Augsburg took a 2-1 lead 4:20 into the second period, as Schulte scored in her fourth straight playoff game, firing in a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle just a second after an Auggie power play ended. The goal, assisted by Brehm and first-team All-American
Nora Stepan (JR, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS), was Schulte's 13th of the season and sixth in her last six games.
• UW-River Falls tied the game at 2-2 with a goal from Madison Lavergne with 2:34 left in the second period, then took the lead with a pair of goals in a 3:06 span midway through the third period, by Megan Goodreau and Cahlilah Lindquist.
• Augsburg was outshot by a 29-24 margin in the game, with the Falcons holding a 13-4 advantage in the first period. First-team All-American goalie
Kayla Simonson (FY, Delano, Minn./Delano HS) capped her inaugural collegiate campaign with a 25-save effort, finishing her season with a 15-4-0 record.
FOR THE FOES
• UW-River Falls goalie Jordan O'Kane had 22 saves.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Making its first appearance in the NCAA Division III national tournament, Augsburg finished the 2024-25 season with a school-record 24 victories under first-year head coach Elizabeth "Biz" Bauer, the
American Hockey Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year, winning the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and playoff championships, each for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. Augsburg appeared in its second-ever Division III national championships. In 2000, the Auggies advanced to the inaugural Division III national finals series, falling to Middlebury (Vt.) in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance finals in Boston, Mass.
• The co-third-place national finish (with Middlebury) marks Augsburg's best-ever women's team finish in NCAA Division III competition since the women's track and field team finished third in indoor competition and fourth in outdoor competition in 1988.
• Friday's game marked the final contest for three Augsburg seniors, all of whom played in a school-record 107 games in their careers -- Cronkhite, defender
Elizabeth Fagerlind (SR, Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville HS) and forward
Kiley Wahlin (SR, Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace HS).
• Cronkhite,
a second-team All-American, finished as the third player in Augsburg history to surpass the 100-point career plateau, finishing with 50 goals and 52 assists for 102 points -- third in school history in points, fourth in goals and tied for third in assists. She finished her career with a plus-52 plus-minus rating.
• Fagerlind, who earned the
NCAA's Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the top grade-point average at the Division III women's hockey championships, finished her career with seven goals and 22 assists for 29 points, to go along with a plus-19 plus-minus rating.
• Wahlin finished her four-year Augsburg career with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points, with a plus-31 career plus-minus rating.
