Women's Hockey 2/21/03 -- Augsburg 6, St. Benedict 0

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MINNEAPOLIS (2/21/03) -- Lauren Chezick (So., Hastings, Minn.) notched her second hat trick of the season and tied the Augsburg College single-season scoring record for women's hockey with a three-goal, two-assist night, leading the Auggies to a 6-0 shutout win over the College of St. Benedict in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Annie Annunziato (Jr., Commack, N.Y.) also set a school record with her five-point night with a goal and a single-game record four assists; goalie Kristin Johnson (So., Minnetonka, Minn./Wayzata HS) tied a school record with her fifth shutout of the season; and senior Kristen Opalinski (Sr., Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe HS) scored her first collegiate goal in the final home game of her career.

Augsburg improved to 11-10-3 overall and 9-6-2 in MIAC play with the win, inching a step closer to an MIAC postseason playoff berth. With St. Mary's clinching a spot in the five-team playoffs on Friday with a 3-2 win over regular-season champion St. Thomas, and St. Catherine upsetting Gustavus 2-1 on Friday, Augsburg now must win in Saturday's (2/22) regular-season finale at St. Benedict in order to clinch a berth in the MIAC playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. A loss or tie would eliminate the Auggies from the playoffs.

St. Benedict is now 4-17-2 overall and 3-12-2 in MIAC play. Saturday's finale between the Auggies and Blazers is at 2 p.m. at the Municipal Athletic Center in St. Cloud, Minn., St. Benedict's home rink.

Chezick tied Augsburg's single-season school record for total points with her five-point night on Friday, in her 24th game of the season. Chezick now has 24 goals and a single-season school record 29 assists for 53 points. Angie Rieger had 28 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in Augsburg's Division III national runner-up season of 1999-2000, playing in 28 games.

Chezick scored twice in the second period and once in the third period to net her hat trick, the second of her career.

Annunziato scored Augsburg's first goal, at the 5:06 mark of the first period, and assisted on four of the last five goals to give her a single-game school record for assists, tying the mark first set by Christine Stanley in a 1996 game against Amherst (Mass.).

The five points each by Annunziato and Chezick tied a single-game school record set six times before in the eight seasons of women's hockey at Augsburg, including once earlier this year by Chezick.

Both Annunziato and Chezick are among the top scorers in the country in women's hockey, with Chezick now at 53 points and Annunziato at 49 points (22 goals, 27 assists). Augsburg's first line of Annunziato, Chezick and Carrie Velenchenko (So., Maple Grove, Minn.), the top scoring line statistically in the nation, accounted for five of Augsburg's six goals. The trio, with Velenchenko's seven goals and 17 assists, now has accounted for 53 of Augsburg's 83 goals (63.8 percent) and 126 of Augsburg's 207 points (60.9 percent) this season.

In addition to the record-setting night for Augsburg's first line, Augsburg's last home game of the season was a special one for Opalinski, Augsburg's lone senior. Opalinski, Augsburg's No. 4 goalie, has dressed for 10 games as an extra forward in the Auggie lineup. Opalinski was inserted into the Auggie first line with Annunziato and Chezick in the third period, and scored her first collegiate goal on a rebound in front of the net with 3:45 left to play.

A goalie throughout her youth and high school days, it was the first goal for Opalinski at any level of her hockey career.

Augsburg outshot St. Benedict by a 39-20 margin, with Auggie goalie Johnson tying a single-season record for shutouts with her fifth of the season, tying a mark first set by Meg Schmidt in the 1999-2000 season.

St. Benedict used three goalies in the game, with Nikki Schwartz (So., Bismarck, N.D.) taking the loss with 24 saves, allowing five goals. Kate Hall (Jr., Calgary, Alberta/Dr. D.P. Scarlett HS) made seven saves and Kelsey Robinson (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) made two saves and allowed one goal in relief.

Genevieve Allegrezza (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska/Service HS) also scored for the Auggies, with Laura Prasek (So., Fridley, Minn.), Jana Ford (So., Eagan, Minn.) and Hannah Dietrich (So., Luverne, Minn.) also picking up assists.