By Julie Kayzerman '16

Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team fought back from a four-goal deficit by scoring six unanswered goals in the second half to edge out Salisbury University, 8-7 in a thrilling battle of two ranked teams, on Saturday afternoon in Lion's Stadium.
The third-ranked Lions improved their record to (13-1), handing No. 4 ranked Salisbury (14-2)  their second loss of the season.

Salisbury jumped out early with a fired up offense, setting the pace just 3:53 into the contest as the Sea Gulls' Gabbi Nieves snuck one in to the TCNJ goal.

The Sea Gulls continued to command the first half with an energetic offense as the college found themselves in unusual territory, down 5-1 with 4:17 left in the half.

But with 0.01 left on the clock, it was senior attacker Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) who changed the momentum of the game in favor of the Lions. Following a ground ball and clear by sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Morrison (Stonington, CT/Stonington), junior attacker Mia Blackman (Arlington, VA/Field School) took possession of the ball and perfectly timed a pass to Natalicchio who was charging through the middle of the Sea Gull's defensive zone. Natalicchio swiftly sniped in a pivotal goal for the Lions, closing the gap at 5-2 for the half.

"At that point, there was nothing to lose, we had to go for it," Natalicchio said. "I think we came back after half time and we had the confidence. We gained momentum and we just played our game, and in the first half we really didn't."

The Lions allowed just one more Salisbury goal in the beginning of the second half at 3:09 but sophomore midfielder Amanda Muller (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) followed just 1:37 later with a goal of her own.

From there, the Lions never looked back, dominating the second half with six unanswered goals. The trio of upperclassmen Natalicchio, midfielder Megan Devlin (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City) and graduate student Erin Waller (Washington Twp., NJ/Washington Twp.) led TCNJ with an unbelievable offensive comeback.

Devlin netted her second goal off a Natalicchio assist to bring the Lion's score up to four. Blackman notched a decisive goal at 13:24 despite the Lions being a man-down.

Just about four minutes later, Waller drove through the Salisbury defense for a diving goal that snuck just past the head of sophomore goalie Gianna Falcone to put the Lions up for the first time in the match.

Natalicchio held the pace, firing in two more goals to record her third of the game and 42^nd of the season, widening the college's lead, 8-6.

However, Salisbury had a late rally as sophomore attacker Dana King took advantage of a free position shot to keep the game tight, contributing her second goal for the Sea Gulls to close the Lion's lead at 8-7 with just over five minutes left to play.

With 2:22 left on the clock, Muller made an offensive attempt, firing the ball at the Sea Gull's net. However, she was halted by a stellar diving save from Falcone to hold off the Lions and keep Salisbury within reach.  

The Sea Gulls continued storm the TCNJ net but freshman goalie Miranda Chrone (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) made a crucial save with 11.1 seconds remaining to hold out the triumph for the Lions.

"I knew I didn't want it to go into overtime because that would give them more momentum," Chrone said. "I was just doing everything for my team. We messed up and I just wanted to make up for it, that's what we do." Chrone finished the match with a season-high of seven saves.

Blackman and Muller highlighted two assists each in the game and Morrison held tight for the Lion's defense with four groundballs, two draw controls and two caused turnovers.

"I'm very proud," said head coach Sharon Pfluger '82. "They showed a lot of character today and they played like a team. It never became an individual game, they knew they needed each other to do it."

The Lions take on Rowan University next for a conference matchup in Lion's Stadium on Tuesday, April 19 at 7 p.m.