May 13, 2016

By Leigh Torbin

Six members of the No. 6 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team received all-region recognition on Friday from the IWLCA. Cortney Fortunato, Casey Pearsall and Barbara Sullivan all received first-team All-West/Midwest accolades while Brie Custis, Alex Dalton and Rachel Sexton earned a place on the all-region second team.

All six are now eligible for All-American consideration for their role in helping lead the Irish to a 13-6 record while facing one of the nation’s toughest schedules and a third-place finish in the ACC.

Notre Dame leads all teams in the West/Midwest region with its six selections. Penn State and USC had five selections apiece. On a national level, the six picks match Duke, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina for the top total in the nation. The six all-region selections ties the Irish school record established in 2006.

This is the third career all-region award for Dalton, Fortunato and Sullivan, the second for Pearsall and the first for both Custis and Sexton. Dalton (2015), Fortunato (2014-15), Pearsall (2015) and Sullivan (2013, 2015) have all previously gone on to earn All-America accolades during their time with the Irish.

Notre Dame has earned a first round bye in the NCAA Championship and will face the winner of Louisville and Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Arlotta Stadium in the NCAA second round. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN3.

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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team while serving as the football publicity team’s top lieutenant. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.