UTA's roller hockey sport club team has won the Southwest Collegiate Hockey League crown for three straight seasons and in April advanced to the sweet 16 at the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association championships in Anaheim, Calif.

UTA became the first school to win three straight SCHL titles in March, defeating U.T. Austin two games to one in the best-of-three championship series after beating Texas A&M to reach the final round. The SCHL has 20 teams.

The Mavericks entered the NCRHA meet ranked 10th in the nation and won one, lost two and tied two before being eliminated by Towson State. Lindenwood took the Division I championship, defeating Penn State, 10-3, in the championship game.

"Teams at the national tournament were bigger and more physical than what we faced in our league," senior forward Ryan Cantrell said. "We seemed to get the lead in every game, but we would run out of gas at the end."

In its opening game against fifth-ranked South Florida, UTA led, 3-1, after two periods, but USF scored four times in the third period to force a 5-5 tie. Cantrell scored three goals to lead UTA. It was a similar story in the next two games as UTA led Ohio State, 3-0, before losing, 6-4, and took a 2-0 lead over Maryland before the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Roller hockey is similar to ice hockey except the players wear inline skates and play on a hard surface. Each team has four players and a goalie.

Roller hockey gives UTA 10 sport clubs, including lacrosse, martial arts and men's and women's soccer.