Ewing, NJ... The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team pushed its season-opening winning streak to seven straight as the Lions pulled away from a pesky Ursinus College squad for an 18-7 win on Tuesday.
 
The win put fifth-ranked TCNJ at 7-0 on the season, while the Bears dipped to 5-2.
 
Ursinus hung tight with the Lions for the opening 20 minutes of the game, but the hosts scored 13 of the game's final 16 goals to earn the win.
 
In those first 20 minutes, the Lions took an early 4-1 lead as senior Lauren Pigott (Jobstown, NJ/Northern Burlington) scored twice and sophomore Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) and senior Jen Garavente (Monroe Twp., NJ/Monroe Twp.) accounted for the other two.
 
The Bears then scored three of the next four goals to pull within 5-4 with 11:11 showing on the clock, but TCNJ finished the half strong rattling off the period's five goals. Junior Kendal Borup (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) started that run and added another in that spurt, while junior Ava Fitzgerald (Merrick, NY/Calhoun), Garavente, and Pigott also tallied as the hosts led 10-4 at the break.
 
The cushion ballooned to 13-4 just 2:39 into the second half with Borup, Garavente, and junior Erin Waller (Washington Twp., NJ/Washington Twp.) each finding the back of the net.
 
Ursinus later closed the margin to 15-7 on a goal by sophomore Brynn Dietzel (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South), only that would be as close as the guests would get with TCNJ's defense shutting the door and the offense closing out the scoring with the final three goals.
 
Freshman Kelly Schlupp (Holland, PA/Council Rock South) kept rolling in net for the Lions making three saves to garner her sixth straight win.
 
Garavente led the charge at the other end of the field with five goals and two assists, while Borup scored five times, giving her a team-leading 31 goals this season. Pigott chipped in with four goals and one assist.
 
Ursinus goalie Margaret Philbin (Danbury, CT/Ridgefield) finished with 11 saves.

 
TCNJ is home again on Saturday, March 29 hosting Eastern University at 1 p.m.