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Notre Dame's Meghan Pearl Named April 12 Women's Midwest Division Player of the Week
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Meghan Pearl (Sr., Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) of the University of Notre Dame won 10-of-12 swimoffs and scored eight goals for the No. 4-nationally ranked Fighting Irish to earn the April 12 Women's National Collegiate Club Midwest Division Player of the Week award and lead the Irish to the 2010 Midwest Division Championship and a berth at the National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Arizona.
The award marks her second consecutive division Player of the Week nod as she shared the March 29 honor with teammate and goalie Betsy O'Neill (Sr., Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley).
Playing in a pair of regular season games before competing in the four-team Midwest Division Championship bracket at home in South Bend, Indiana, Pearl won four-of-four swimoffs against Ohio University in 15-3 and 15-5 victories before burying eight goals in two games against No. 11-ranked Grand Valley State University to put the Irish back into the National Collegiate Club Championship bracket.
In the final regular season meeting between the Irish and GVSU Lakers, she won two-of-four sprints and put home four of Notre Dame's nine goals in a 9-3 victory. In the division title tilt, she won four-of-four swimoffs and again buried four-of-nine goals, including three consecutive markers to start the second quarter to turn a 3-2 lead into a 6-2 advantage, in a 9-5 victory over Grand Valley State.
Due to Notre Dame finishing second at the 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of California-Davis, the Midwest Division will have two teams in the 2010 National Collegiate Club Championship bracket as the Irish and Grand Valley State both advance to the national championship tournament on April 23-25 in Tucson, Arizona.
