Marquette Advantedge girls win league title
The Marquette Advantedge girls 19U hockey team captured the NIHL League title this weekend, going undefeated with a record of 3-0-1. Their first opponent that they faced was Escanaba on Friday, coming away with a tie by the score of 4-4. Scoring for the Marquette team were Haley Boroughf (Brock Nelson, Hannah Holma) and Marlowe Pentecost (Holma, Boroughf) to tie the score at 2-2 after 2 periods. the two teams matched goals in the third, with Pentecost (Lauren Reckker) and Reckker (Allison Carlson, Abby Esbrook) scoring for Advantedge.
In their first game on Saturday, the Advantedge girls defeated the Traverse City North Stars by the score of 4-1. Scoring in the first was Esbrook (Reckker), followed by two more in second by Pentecost (Alyssa Camps, Carlson) and Reckker (Camps, Carlson). Finishing off the scoring in the third was Kirsten Iwanski (unassisted). Carley Mannika faced 32 shots in net.
In game two of Saturday, the Marquette girls defeated the Keweenaw Storm by the score of 4-1. Scoring for the girls only goal of the first period was Holma (Nelson, Kaitlin Salmela) totie the score at 1-1. They then pumped in 3 goals in the third period, with Nelson (unassisted), Iwanski (Montana Viitala, Pentecost), and Viitala (unassisted). Maanika stopped 26 shots on net. The victory was enough to put the Advantedge squad in the championship game on Sunday.
Sundays game was a rematch with the Storm, this time a much tighter game and giving the fans a thrill to watch. It took 2 overtime periods and a shoot out before a winner could be declared. Keweenaw scored the only goal of the first period to take a 1-0 lead, but the Marquette girls came back and dented the twine twice in the second. Scoring were Salmela (Nelson) and Pentecost (Viitala) to gain a 2-1 lead going into the third. Keweenaw again scored, tying the game at 2-2, forcing the overtime. The two teams battled through a scoreless 4 on 4 overtime, then a 3 on 3 overtime, forcing the game to come down to a shootout.
Shooting first and scoring for Advantedge was Iwanski, with Maanika coming up with the save against Keweenaw. Shooting second was Boroughf, who also scored, but Keweenaw came back and scored on their shot. Next to shoot was Holma, but was stopped as well as was the next Keweenaw shooter, making the shootout score 2-1 at this point. Nest to shoot was Esbrook, buring the puck in the net to make the overtime score 3-1 and giving the gold medal to the Marquette girls. Maanika stopped 14 shots in regulation to go along with 4 stops in the overtime and 2 in the shootout.
The girls now travel to Grand Rapids for the State tournament next weekend.