ATLANTA – After backstopping St. Thomas to the UMLC championship, including an upset of the top team in the country, Tommies junior netminder Gunner Arens is the MCLA Division II PEARL Goalie of the Week for the period ending April 21.

St. Thomas had to win three games in three days to take home the title and it started on Friday with a 15-1 win over St. John’s where the Stillwater, Minn., product made five saves and allowed just a goal in limited action.

On Saturday, Arens made another nine saves in the win over North Dakota State, but he saved his best effort for the championship game on Sunday against

No. 1 Grand Valley State. He turned away 15 shots as the Tommies were able to pull the 11-7 upset.

For the weekend, Arens made 29 saves against 15 goals against – a save percentage of 65.9.

“Watching Gunner’s growth from becoming a great goalie to a great leader over the last three seasons has been fun to watch,” said St. Thomas coach Jason King. “Gunner was a big difference-maker on clearing against NDSU and GVSU's 10-man ride.

“He was a brick wall in between the pipes. Over this past weekend, Gunner surpassed 600 career saves and is now St. Thomas’ all-time save leader with 618.”

As the recipient of the PEARL Goalie of the Week honor, Arens will receive a PEARL swag bag of goodies that will include PEARL lacrosse balls – the official ball of the MCLA.

PEARL Honor Roll

Noah Bruce, Fr. – Long Beach State
The Long Beach native led LBSU to a split this weekend by amassing 32 saves against 19 goals allowed – a save percentage of 62.7.

Charlie Gamache, Sr. – UMass-Dartmouth
The Dartmouth, Mass., product was a monster against Southern Conn., State, making 40 saves in a shutout while also dishing out an assist and adding a GB.

Jucheol Lee, Fr. – San Jose State
The netminder from South Korea made 18 saves in the Spartans 8-6 win over Chico State that locked up the No. 2 seed in the WCLL playoffs.

Ramsey Morris, Sr. – Miami
In the Hurricanes first-ever SELC tourney appearance, the Richmond, Va., product made 21 saves in a setback to Kennesaw State.