Women's Hockey 2/27/03 -- MIAC Playoff Play-In Game:
St. Mary's 2, Augsburg 1

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WOODBURY, Minn. (2/27/03) -- St. Mary's University scored two goals in the final 4:29 of play Thursday night, keeping its women's hockey season alive in a 2-1, come-from-behind triumph over Augsburg College in the first round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoffs at the Bielenberg Sports Center.

Tennie McCabe (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) tied the game by putting home a deflection from Christy Hicks (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.) and Josie Nechodom (Sr., Oakdale, Minn.) at the 15:31 mark of the third period, and Nechodom scored the game-winner on a top-shelf rebound from Hicks and McCabe at the 17:45 mark.

Augsburg was whistled for a penalty in the final minute, and could not gain an extra-skater situation with the empty net until the final 13 seconds, and could not get a shot off to attempt to tie the game in the closing seconds.

With the win, St. Mary's (11-9-6 overall), the defending conference playoff champions, won its third straight game and fifth in its last seven starts. St. Mary's advances to face top-seed St. Thomas (17-6-2) in the conference playoff semifinals on Friday (2/28) at 5 p.m. at Bielenberg Sports Center. No. 2 Concordia-Moorhead (14-7-1) faces No. 3 Gustavus (13-8-4) in the other semifinal Friday at 8 p.m.

Augsburg, suffering just its second loss in its last nine games (5-2-2), finishes its season 12-11-3. Augsburg, with just one senior on the roster, was making its first playoff appearance after a two-season absence.

Augsburg took the lead late in the second period, when Annie Annunziato (Jr., Commack, N.Y.) walked in from the point and put a blast past St. Mary's goalie Missie Meemken (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.). Assists were credited to Lauren Chezick (So., Hastings, Minn.) and Melynda Kleewein (So., Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond HS).

The Augsburg pair, part of the top scoring line in the nation in Division III women's hockey, finished with the top two single-season scoring efforts in school history. Chezick, the top point-getter in the nation with 25 goals and 32 assists, finished with a school-record 57 points. Annunziato finished her season with 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points.

Meanwhile, Augsburg goalie Kristin Johnson (So., Minnetonka, Minn./Wayzata HS) saw her scoreless streak end at 250:44, a streak spanning parts of five games, including a school-record three straight shutouts. Johnson made 30 saves in the game.

St. Mary's outshot Augsburg by a 32-27 mark -- outshooting the Auggies by a 23-14 advantage in the final two periods. Meemken, considered one of the top goalies in the nation, made 26 saves, including several dramatic stops on Augsburg breaks.