Louisville, KY… The College of New Jersey field hockey team's season came to a close Friday evening with a 1-0 loss to Messiah College in the NCAA Division III national semi-finals. The Lions end the year at 17-4, while the Falcons remain undefeated at 22-0.
 
Neither team made much progress in the opening half as TCNJ was held to two corners and one shot, and the Lions held Messiah to three corners and three shots with no significant scoring chances.
 
The Falcons controlled play through the beginning of the second half, but a diving save by Christina Fabiano (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills) kept the game scoreless. Fabiano finished with seven saves.
 
Messiah would finally break through after a trio of penalty corners. After Sidney Padilla (Suffern, NY/Suffern) made a defensive save on each of back-to-back penalty corners, the constant pressure finally broke the TCNJ defense down and Kristen Donohue scored what would end up as the game's lone goal.
 
The Lions best scoring chance came with two minutes to play as TCNJ began to build pressure on the Falcons, but Kayla Peterson's (Cream Ridge, NJ/Allentown) shot slipped just outside the right post.
 
Messiah out-shot TCNJ 13-2 and earned 16 corners to just a pair for the Lions.
 
TCNJ claims third place for the eighth time in program history.