MINNEAPOLIS – It's been a tough go of late for the Yellowjacket women's hockey team, and they have entered arguably the busiest part of their 2023-24 schedule looking to not only get back in the win column, but also build some momentum heading into Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play.
 
After dropping a pair of games last weekend to Marian at home, the Yellowjackets began a stretch of nine games in 11 days Tuesday, taking to the road to play Augsburg in their final non-conference game of the year.
 
The Yellowjackets and Auggies met early in 2023-24, with the Auggies getting the win at Wessman Arena thanks to an advantage in special teams play. Tuesday was a much closer game than the first meeting between the two teams, but unfortunately for the Yellowjackets special teams again came back to bite them and the result ended up being the same.
 
Augsburg scored at even strength, shorthanded and on the power play on the way to a 3-1 win over the Yellowjackets Tuesday at the Augsburg Ice Arena.
 
With the defeat, the Yellowjackets (4-11-1, 1-1-1 WIAC) are now winless in their last eight games.
 
Late in the first period, the Yellowjackets had a golden opportunity to strike first on the power play, but Augsburg had other ideas. The Auggies' Kennedy Stein opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker to give the hosts the 1-0 lead. The unassisted goal came at 18:31 of the first period.
 
The Yellowjackets didn't suffer from an emotional letdown after giving up the shorthanded goal, and jumped back to even early in the second. Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season, beating Augsburg goaltender Chloe Stockinger from the right side to tie the game 1-1 just 43 seconds into the period. Cora Coz (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) and Brynn MacLean (Wilcox, Saskatchewan/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) assisted.
 
Midway through the second period Yellowjacket head coach Dan Laughlin made a change in goal, with starter Molly Black (Devils Lake, N.D./Devils Lake) being relieved by Abby Pajari (Duluth, Minn./Proctor Senior). Augsburg provided Pajari with a rude welcome, as it retook the lead on the first shot Pajari faced. At 11:10 of the period Emily Schoeberl redirected a shot from Emily Cronkhite past Pajari to make it 2-1 Auggies.
 
It stayed that way into the third period, when the Yellowjackets came out and applied some early pressure, but they weren't able to get the equalizer. Augsburg got some insurance at 11:52 of the third when Schoeberl scored her second of the game, converting a pass in the slot on the power play to increase the Auggie lead to 3-1.
 
The Yellowjackets killed off an ensuing penalty, and then had a chance with the advantage in the final three minutes, but they were unable to pull closer and forced to take the loss.
 
Black started in goal for the Yellowjackets and stopped 12 shots. Pajari was be tagged with the loss, falling to 0-2-0 on the year. She finished the game with 22 saves. The Yellowjackets were outshot 37-23.
 
Next up for the Yellowjackets is a return to WIAC action, as they take on UW-Eau Claire. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Wessman Arena.