Wayne, NJ... The College of New Jersey field hockey team still has one conference game left on the schedule, but the Lions have already locked up the top seed in the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament as they posted a 3-0 win at William Paterson on Saturday.
 
The Lions are 5-0 in league play and are the only unbeaten team left and hold the tiebreaker over second-place Rowan University. By clinching the top seed, TCNJ will have home-field advantage throughout the tournament, which gets underway on Wednesday, November 4. Overall, the second-ranked Lions are 14-1.
 
The loss put the Pioneers at 3-2 in the conference as they continue their push for the postseason, while they are 10-6 overall.
 
Junior Lexi Smith (Florence, NJ/Florence Twp.) provided more than enough offense in the opening half as she picked up a pair of goals. The first came 4:04 into the game and the second just over 11 minutes later. Those two goals raised her total for the season to 14.
 
Senior Alicia Wagner (Hopewell, NJ/Hopewell Valley) capped the scoring with 9:36 left, as freshman
Sidney Padilla (Suffern, NY/Suffern) earned an assist on the play.
 
Lion goalie Kelly Schlupp (Holland, PA/Council Rock South) collected her fourth shutout of the season as she finished with three saves.
 
TCNJ plays their final non-conference game of the season on Thursday, October 29 as they travel to Albright College.