The College of New Jersey Athletics

Ewing, NJ… Cayla Andrews' (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) goal with 45.8 seconds remaining broke a 1-1 tie and pushed the Lions past SUNY Cortland 2-1 Saturday afternoon. The Lions improve to 16-3 on the season and 77-20 all time in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Dragons close out the season at 18-4.
 
"I feel great, proud, and the way we played defensively really shows the mentality of our team" said head coach Sharon Pfluger after the win.
 
The teams played to a stalemate in the opening half with both sides taking just four shots, and neither goalie being truly tested. "The great defense that we played in the first half, really pushed our offense to be better." claimed Andrews.
 
Six minutes into the second half, Elizabeth Morrison (Stonington, CT/Stonington) received the ball on the right side of the arc. Morrison attempted a twisting shot that the Red Dragons goalie had no chance of stopping and TCNJ secured a 1-0 lead.
 
With the game still 1-0, SUNY Cortland appeared to have tied the score when Jess Gibaldi beat the Lions goalie, but Kayla Peterson (Cream Ridge, NJ/Allentown) made a brilliant defense save to keep the ball from crossing the line. "I saw the ball get behind me and I thought 'Oh no'", said Lions Goalie Christina Fabiano (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills), "but then I saw [Peterson] behind me get a stick on it and get the clear and I felt a huge amount of relief."
 
The Red Dragons would respond, getting a goal off a corner from Jessica Walsh. Wash received the ball at the top of the arc, side-stepped the rushing defender and ripped a shot through traffic that found the back of the cage.
 
With just under a minute in regulation, Sidney Padilla (Suffern, NY/Suffern) played a perfect right to left cross, setting up Andrews heroics. "Sidney has been a huge part of our success this season, she pushes all of us and I didn't want to let her down", said Andrews about the game winner.
 
TCNJ out-shot SUNY Cortland 17-9.
 
Fabiano, the lone player on the team that was on the Lions 2014 championship squad, made five saves in the victory. "I know what it feel like first hand to win a national championship, and I just want everyone on this team to feel the same thing."
 
"The Goal is to take it one day at a time and make everyone on the team happy." said Pfluger, "I think we accomplished that today and now we need to make that happen tomorrow."
 
The Lions will now face Centre College in the regional final Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM in Lions Stadium. The Colonels defeated Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2-1 to advance to the elite eight for the first time in program history. TCNJ will be looking to advance to the final four for the 23^rd time.