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No. 3 Notre Dame Downs No. 19 Central Florida 12-5 to Earn Spot in Fifth Place Game at National Collegiate Club Championship
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Christina Romano (Jr., River Forest, Ill.) scored four times to earn Player of the Game honors and lead six University of Notre Dame scorers as the No. 3-nationally ranked Fighting Irish handled No. 19 University of Central Florida to earn a place in the fifth place game against No. 2 University of California-Los Angeles at the 2010 Women's National Collegiate Club Championship on the campus of the University of Arizona.
The Irish and Bruins will meet at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, April 25 as UCLA will seek to knock off Notre Dame for the second time this season after downing the Fighting Irish 5-4 earlier in the season.
Against the Lady Knights, the Irish never trailed as Notre Dame opened up a 6-2 lead by halftime and cruised to the seven-goal victory over Central Florida.
Maisie O'Malley (So., Chicago, Ill.) added a hat-trick for the Irish, while Emily Harig (Sr., Arlington Heights, Ill.), Meghan Pearl (Sr., Cary, Ill.), Erin Gibson (So., Naperville, Ill.) and Laura McCoy (Fr., Carmel Valley, Calif.) also tickled the twine.
Stefanie Clark (So., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) and Rachael Rein (Jr., Winter Park, Fla.) led UCF in scoring with pairs of tallies to lead three Lady Knight scorers. Stephanie Beauchemin (Sr., Sanford, Fla.) tacked on a solo score for Central Florida as well.
In cage, Betsy O'Neill
(Sr., Danville, Calif.) notched 12 saves to earn the win
and guarantee her team a top five finish for the second consecutive
year after placing second at the 2009 Championship hosted by the
University of California-Davis. Blaire Martin (Sr.,
Altamonte Springs, Fla.) finished with six stops for the
Lady Knights.
Central Florida will next be in action at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday versus No. 8-ranked the University of Pennsylvania in the seventh place contest.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 3 University of Notre Dame | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | -- | 12 |
| No. 19 University of Central Florida | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -- | 5 |
UCF Goals: Stefanie Clark (2); Rachael Rein (2); Stephanie Beauchemin
Notre Dame Goals: Christina Romano (4); Maisie O'Malley (3); Emily Harig (2); Meghan Pearl; Erin Gibson; Laura McCoy
Saves: UCF - Blaire Martin (6) ; Notre Dame - Betsy O'Neill (12)
Exclusions: UCF - 8 ; Notre Dame - 5
Advantage Opportunities: UCF - 1-for-8 ; Notre Dame - 4-for-5
Sprints: UCF - 4-for-4 ; Notre Dame - 0-for-4
