BURLINGTON, Vt. – In a must-win situation to stay alive at the USA?Hockey Girls U-19 Tier II National Championships, the Marquette Sentinels fell short.

Team South Dakota scored quickly in the first period and used their depth to defeat Marquette 5-0.

The loss eliminated the Sentinels and ended their season.

“They scored like right off the bat and that was demoralizing,” Sentinels head coach Jeff Cornock said.

“It was 2-0 before long and things just kept going that way. They had almost double the amount of players we did and they just kept coming and wore us out.”

Team South Dakota got on the board at 3:22 on an unassisted goal by Madison Arnold and Maddie Schultz followed soon after with a power play tally.

Schultz added another power play goal in the second period to put South Dakota up 3-0. In the third, Mikayla Santjer scored 16 seconds into the period and Schultz completed her hat trick with her third power play goal to put the finishing touch on South Dakota’s win.

Even though the season didn’t end the way he had hoped, Cornock felt that it went well.

“It’s always a successful year when you make nationals,” he said.

“We finished ahead of a couple teams, but just not enough to get into top eight. Any time you’re in the top 12, it’s a successful year.

“We won the state title, but like any competitor, you want to win your last game. We’ll live to fight another day though.

“A lot of the girls got better and the girls who will return will be better next year.”

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.