Collegeville, PA… A strong finish to the opening half carried The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team carried the Lions to an11-3 road win at Ursinus College on Tuesday.
 
A five-goal burst by 14th-ranked TCNJ to close out the opening half allowed them to gain control of the game on the scoreboard after the hosts had closed to within 2-1 midway through the period. The Lions also stepped up defensively in that stretch, allowing only one shot that was saved by keeper Kelly Schlupp (Holland, PA/Council Rock South).
 
TCNJ then added to that advantage in the second half to improve to 4-2 on the season.
 
Junior Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) led all players with four goals, while senior Kendal Borup (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) chipped in with three. Freshman Amanda Muller (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) added a pair of goals and added an assist.
 
The Lions held a decisive 29-12 edge in shots, as well as dominating the draw controls collecting 11 of 16.
 
Natalicchio netted the first two goals of the game as the visitors never trailed in the contest. The first of those came 7:25 into the contest with the second just over five minutes later.
 
The Bears got one of those goals back with 14:08 left in the period, but collected the last five goals. Muller made it 3-2 before Borup tallied the next three goals. Sophomore Mia Blackman (Arlington, VA/Field School) scored the final goal of the half with 4:12 remaining as the Lions led 7-1.
 
Ursinus scored two of the first three goals of the second half, but the Lions once again took charge as they netted the final three goals of the game and kept the Bears off of the scoreboard the final 11 minutes to ice the victory.
 
Schlupp had a nice game in goal registering five, while seniors Erin Healy (Spring Lake Heights, NJ/Manasquan) and Lauren Karpovich (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) each scooped up two ground balls and forced two turnovers.
 
Ursinus goalie Margaret Philbin was busy as she finished the game with seven saves.
 
TCNJ remains on the road this weekend when they head to Eastern University on Saturday, March 28 to face the Eagles at 1 p.m.