In sports, there is sometimes a debate about whether the most valuable player needs to come from the best team. Jennifer (Pritchard) Kearney '09 left no argument as she checked both boxes while being named the 2009 Honda Division III Player of the Year. While the individual accolades are great, what meant the most to Kearney was being a part of two national championship teams during the 2007 and 2009 seasons. Her athletic accomplishments were spectacular, as she was named the Division III Attacker of the Year three times throughout her career, representing the top offensive threat in the country during three consecutive national championship appearances.
When you include a team trip to the Elite 8 during her rookie season, Franklin & Marshall went an outstanding 76-8 during Kearney's playing career, including a 35-1 record in Centennial Conference play that resulted in three consecutive conference championships (2007-09). All that winning resulted in a school-record 28 consecutive victories that spanned the 2007-08 seasons. There was also a stretch of 32 consecutive home victories that began during the early part of Kearney's first year on campus and carried into her senior season.
Although Kearney would rather talk about team accomplishments, the individual accolades are too numerous not to include. After leading the Diplomats to their only two national championships, Kearney still stands atop both the F&M and Centennial Conference record books as the all-time leading goal scorer (268) and is the only four-time All-American in program history. During the 2009 season, Kearney scored 68 goals and assisted on 13 others. She scored seven game-winning goals en route to the 2009 national championship, capping her career with four goals in the national championship on just four shots. The best players elevate their game in the high-pressure situations and Kearney certainly did that as her 19 career goals in NCAA Tournament play set a new NCAA postseason record.
The 2007 national championship team will always hold a special place in Franklin & Marshall history. In addition to being the first national championship, what made it doubly special is that those Diplomats went a perfect 21-0. To keep that undefeated season alive, Kearney scored four times during the second half of the 2007 national championship victory over Salisbury.
Kearney stands as one of just five players in program history to reach 300 career points, with two of her teammates – Blake Hargest '10 and Shannon Summers '09 – joining her in that exclusive club. She averaged a hat trick throughout her career, with a 3.19 goals per game average that ranks fourth in school history and is the best since the early founding days of the varsity program.
As evidenced during the 2009 national championship, Pritchard was one of the most efficient shot takers in the country, scoring at that pace while taking just over six shots per game. Kearney scored the game-winning goal in 24 of F&M's 76 wins during her career while also establishing a new school record with 234 draw controls and 51 free-position goals. To this day, the three years in which Kearney was named the national attacker of the year still represent half of the top single-season scoring performances at F&M.
After winning the 2009 national championship and playing in the IWLCA Senior All-Star Game, Kearney moved into the technology world where she sold internet systems to companies. Sticking with sales, she then made the pivot to selling healthcare management software systems to major hospitals and clinics around the country. By her 30th birthday, Kearney was exploring entrepreneurship opportunities with an online consumer direct marketing business that focused on eco-friendly solutions. Now the proud parent of a future lacrosse star, Kearney has started her own consulting business and is working with other moms online to help manage their children's sleep patterns, as a certified pediatric sleep consultant.
