Ewing, NJ… Junior Camille Passucci (Denville, NJ/Morris Knolls) scored twice and assisted on two others as The College of New Jersey field hockey team held off visiting Gwynedd-Mercy College 5-2 on Saturday.

The win in the home opener put the eighth-ranked Lions at 2-0 on the young season, while the Griffins fell to 1-1.

The game got off to a wild start as the Lions exploded for a pair of early goals freshmen Erin Waller (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) scored off of a penalty corner just 55 seconds into the game with Passucci assisting.

TCNJ made it 2-0 less than 10 minutes later as freshman Lauren Pigott (Jobstown, NJ/Northern Burlington) deflected in a shot from Passucci for her first collegiate goal.

The Griffins countered with consecutive goals to tie the game as those two markers came 2:23 apart.

Junior Caitlyn Jenkins (Mickleton, NJ/Kingsway) put the hosts back on top with 7:08 left in the half as she deposited the ball into an empty Gwynedd-Mercy net after freshman Erin Healy (Spring Lake Heights, NJ/Manasquan) drew the Griffin keeper away from the cage and slid a soft pass to Jenkins.

Passucci made sure that lead held as she notched her first two goals of the season scoring both in the second half. The first came on an assist from Waller with 21:01 showing on the clock and second was set up by Victoria Martin (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson) with 8:19 remaining.

TCNJ held a sizeable 25-4 edge in shots and took 12 penalty corners to GMC's four.

The Lions are home again on Tuesday, September 3 hosting the Valiants of Manhattanville College at 7:30 p.m. at Lions' Stadium.