EWING, N.J. – Senior Gianna Coppola scored a pair of fancy goals two minutes apart in the first half as the No. 16 TCNJ women's soccer team defeated William Paterson, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at Lions Stadium.
After an incredibly fast start on Wednesday in the victory over Kean, the Lions and Pioneers went through a bit of a feeling-out period to open the contest. That changed in the 12th minute when Victoria D'Imperio nearly gave the Lions a 1-0 lead. She took a nice feed from Emma Pascarella on the left side and her shot just missed wide right.
The Lions continued the pressure, and the goals began to appear. Pascarella assisted on Lindsay O'Keefe's ninth goal of the season in the 15th minute to put the Lions ahead. With that goal, O'Keefe tied Pascarella for the team lead with nine goals apiece.
Coppola was next. She scored twice in exactly two minutes, both on plays where she beat William Paterson defenders. The first of the two came in the 23rd minute, and she burst down the left side, making a move on a WPU defender and beating Pioneer keeper Sarah Mantilla from 10 yards out.
Two minutes later, she found herself with the ball with three WPU defenders around her near the top of the box. She worked around one of the defenders, and she split the other two to clear a path to the net. She again scored from about 10 yards out, this time straight on to beat Mantilla. That made it 3-0 in the 25th minute.
A bad giveaway in the 34th minute sent Ella Van Dine in on a breakaway, but Mantilla bailed out her defense with a wonderful save to keep the game at 3-0. But the Lions got that fourth goal before the half ended. Grace Hamlin scored on a feed from Jessica O'Brien in the 44th minute, beating Mantilla to the far side off the post and into the net.
In the second half, Rachel Robichaud scored off a corner kick in the 60th minute. The ball bounced around before she settled it and scored. D'Imperio rounded out the TCNJ scoring in the 63rd minute, gathering a blocked shot and nailing one in from about 10 yards out.
WPU added a late goal off a free kick in the 85th minute. Coppola led the team with seven shots, four on goal.
TCNJ faces Elizabethtown in a home non-conference game on Wednesday at Lions Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
