Hartford, CT … The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse team saw its season come to a close as they dropped a 11-6 decision to Trinity College  in the 2016 NCAA Division III Regional Championship game.
 
The Lions (20-2) battled back from an 8-1 halftime deficit to draw within three goals, but the Bantams scored three straight goals in under six minutes to stave off a comeback from TCNJ.
 
Draw controls were the major difference in the game as Trinity held a 16-3 advantage, which provided them with possession. The Lions did outshoot the Bantams in the second period and outscored them, 5-3, but the gap was too wide to overcome against a talented Trinity squad.
 
The Bantams jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes. TCNJ got on the board when freshman Kathleen Jaeger (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon Central) took advantage of a man-up opportunity, and found the back of the net with13:31 remaining in the half.
 
Trinity answered with four more goals as Martha Griffin finished the first half with two goals and three assists.
 
TCNJ Head Coach Sharon Pfluger sent her players back out onto the field with a renewed purpose following the intermission. The Lions rattled off four straight goals to make it an 8-5 with 13:41 left in the game. Sophomore Amanda Muller (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) scored two those goals, junior Mia Blackman (Arlington, Va/Field School) tallied of a free position, and Jaeger scored her second goal of the game.
 
While the Lions' offense cut into the lead, the defense shut down the Bantams for more than 20 minutes. Freshman goalie Miranda Chrone (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) made several big saves to enable TCNJ to get back in the game.
 
After Muller made it a three-goal game, Trinity finally connected with a tally just over a minute later to stop the bleeding. They tacked on two more goals just 39 seconds apart to pull ahead 11-5 with 4:56 to play.
 
Graduate student Erin Waller (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) capped her career with a final goal with 29 seconds remaining. She cut from right to left and fought off defenders to sling a shot into the upper portion of the net for the 89^th goal of her career.
 
The Bantams ran out the final seconds to secure the win. They will now face Franklin & Marshall College in the national semifinal.
 
Chrone finished with six saves in the game. Freshman Abby Flagler (Califon, NJ/Voorhees) picked up a team-high four ground balls and caused two turnovers.
 
The game marked the final contest for Waller, Megan Devlin (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City), and Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt). Devlin picked up two ground balls and won a draw control, while Waller scored a goal and also won a draw control. Natalicchio was unable to play during the post-season due to an injury, but remained the team leader in goals (46) and points (67).