NORTHFIELD, MN (11/01/2012)(readMedia)-- Carleton College first-year player Branden McGarrity (Glenview, Ill./South) has been named conference player of the week by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) after he helped the Knights win a pair of crucial MIAC games and a share of the conference's regular season championship last week.
McGarrity scored the game-winning goal in Carleton's wins over the University of St. Thomas and St. Olaf College to wrap up the MIAC goal-scoring title and help the Knights wrap up the No. 1 seed in the MIAC Playoffs.
McGarrity's game-winner came in the 41st minute against St. Thomas, as he opened the scoring when he received a pass over the Tommies' back line and drilled a shot into the left side of the net in the 4-0 Carleton win. Saturday, he helped lock up the Knights' fifth MIAC regular-season title in six years when he scored the game's lone goal in a 1-0 win over rival St. Olaf. McGarrity scored his second game-winner of the week in the 10th minute when he stole a pass, split the Oles' back line and tucked a shot inside the right post.
This season, McGarrity leads the MIAC with 19 goals and 42 points, and his 19 goals are the most by a MIAC player since 2001.
With the big final-week performance, the Knights finished their near-perfect regular season with a 16-1-1 overall record, an 8-1-1 MIAC mark and 25 points in the MIAC standings to share the conference title with Gustavus. Carleton opened the MIAC Playoffs this week as the tournament's No. 1 seed, and will have home field advantage throughout. The Knights defeated fourth seed Saint John's University, 2-0, in Tuesday's semifinal. Carleton hosts Gustavus Adolphus College on Saturday in the conference tournament finals.
Ranked among the nation's top liberal arts institutions, Carleton is a private, co-educational college of 1,900 students located 40 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. High academic standards, an excellent teaching faculty and a diverse student body contribute to Carleton's outstanding reputation.