WATERVILLE, Maine – In a game with four ties and four lead changes, the TCNJ lacrosse team fell on the wrong side of that final lead change as Tufts held on for an 11-10 victory on Sunday night at Colby College's Bill Alfond Field with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
 
Ali Natalicchio tied her season high with nine saves, and Anna Wright paced the offense with four goals, including three in the first half.
 
TCNJ held a big advantage in draw controls, 17-5, and that dominance helped the Lions jump out to an early lead. Wright and Jillian Westerby each scored twice in the first 8:35 of action to push TCNJ to a 4-1 advantage.
 
Wright got her third goal of the first half with 11:12 remaining to give TCNJ a 5-3 lead, but Tufts fought back with four straight goals to end the half to carry a 7-5 lead into the intermission. The last of that four-goal stretch came just before the horn as Emily Games scored with 0.9 seconds on the clock to extend the lead to two goals.
 
Anna Devlin scored just over a minute into the second half to cut the lead to 7-6, but the deficit was back to two goals with eight minutes gone in the second. Trailing, 8-6, the Lions just turned the ball over in Tufts territory. With the momentum and possession, the Jumbos looked to start their attack. That's when the momentum took a decided turn in TCNJ's favor.
 
Erin Jaffe made a great play to step in front of Tufts goalie Molly Laliberty's outlet pass to intercept it. She beat Laliberty back to the goal for the score, and it was 8-7. The TCNJ offense took its cue from that play, scoring three more times in quick succession.
 
Devlin tied the score, and Wright netted her fourth of the game to give TCNJ the lead. Devlin's third goal of the half with 18:38 remaining gave the Lions a 10-8 lead, capping a four-goal run in just three minutes of game action.
 
Tufts came back with three goals of its own to take an 11-10 lead with 12:48 left, and it turned out to be the final score. Both teams had chances late, but Natalicchio made some big stops, including a sparkler on a Kathryn Delaney shot with 2:10 to play. It was her third save in the final five minutes of regulation, all helping to keep the deficit at one.
 
TCNJ's last gasp came in the final minute, but Jaffe's shot was off the mark. Tufts managed to run out the clock on its possession, and it sent TCNJ home with a tough-luck loss in the Elite 8.