Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team captured its fifth straight New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship as the Lions never trailed in a 14-5 victory over Rowan University on Saturday.
 
By winning the title, TCNJ earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Tournament, marking the 31^st straight year they have earned a spot. Since the NJAC began sponsoring women's lacrosse, the Lions have won six of the seven championships.
 
The field for the NCAA Tournament will be announced tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. via an on-line selection show at www.ncaa.com.
 
A huge factor in the game was possession as TCNJ held a decisive 18-3 advantage in draw controls. Junior Megan Devlin (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City) led all players with seven draw controls and freshman Elizabeth Morrison (Stonington, CT/Stonington) was right behind her with six.
 
The Lions got the early jump on the Profs scoring the first six goals of the game. Junior Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) netted the first goal of the game, putting the hosts in front 1-0 1:06 into the game.
 
Senior Kendal Borup (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) made it 2-0 before Natalicchio struck again making it a three-goal difference. TCNJ added three more goals, one each by senior Erin Healy (Spring Lake Heights, NJ/Manasquan), senior Ava Fitzgerald (Merrick, NY/Calhoun) and Borup as the Lions led 6-0.
 
Rowan countered with a small run of its own, scoring three of the next four goals. Vicky Sucharski (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) scored the first Prof goal, while Kim Doyle (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) accounted for the other two. That burst made it a 7-3 game.
 
The Lions capped the half with the final three goals with Borup getting two and Healy the other as the Lions led 10-3 at the half.
 
Rowan scored the initial goal of the second half as Brittany Bollendorf (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) took advantage of a free-position attempt.
 
TCNJ responded with four goals of its own as Borup got the first and Fitzgerald the next three.
 
Doyle netted the final goal of the game for the Profs with 3:56 left, making it a 14-5 final.
 
Borup paced the Lions with five goals and Fitzgerald added four.
 
Doyle led the Profs with three goals.