EWING, N.J. – The No. 6 TCNJ lacrosse team made things interesting with a furious fourth-quarter comeback, but a rough start to the second half was too much to overcome as No. 3 Salisbury left with a 15-12 victory in a heavyweight showdown on Saturday.

Jennifer LaRocca led the way with three goals and three assists for the Lions (11-2), who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the reigning national champions. Ally Tobler also netted three goals, with Larissa Hatzold and Anna Devlin chipping in two apiece.

The Sea Gulls struck first on the game's opening possession, and Tobler countered a couple minutes later with a right-handed rocket off a cut and a feed from LaRocca.

Salisbury took control with a stretch of three unanswered markers before LaRocca hit a cutting Anna Devlin in stride for a lefty shot that found the back of the cage and cut the deficit to 4-2 with 38.0 seconds left on the first-quarter clock.

After Larissa Hatzold finished a free-position shot through contact, the Lions were back within one at 4-3 early in the second quarter. Another three-goal spurt, however, staked Salisbury to its biggest lead of the afternoon (7-3) on a goal by Erin Scannell just past the midway point of the second stanza.

Natalie Berry snapped a 12-minute scoring drought with a high shot for a free-position goal with 1:04 left in the stanza, making it 7-4 in favor of the Sea Gulls heading into intermission.

Salisbury (12-2) came out of the break on fire, rattling off five goals in a row and running away with a 12-4 advantage at the 3:28 mark of the third quarter. Hatzold finally stopped the bleeding at the 1:36 mark of the third, rocketing a free-position shot off the stick of Salisbury goalie Mary Claire Hisle and into the back of the net to make it 12-5.

Down seven with 15 minutes to play, the Lions still managed to put a late scare into the Sea Gulls. LaRocca sandwiched a pair of free-position goals around a weaving move and shot by Tobler, and Devlin snared a high pass from LaRocca and fired into the top corner to trim the Salisbury advantage to 13-9 with 7:35 remaining.
The Sea Gulls restored a six-goal cushion with back-to-back goals by Lydia McNulty, who poured in six on the day, before TCNJ made one final push.

Wright's free-position goal with 1:22 to go left the Lions with a 15-10 deficit, but back came LaRocca with an eight-meter conversion of her own 30 seconds later. Just 26 seconds after that, Tobler somehow managed to get the ball over the line after an initial save, and the hosts suddenly were within 15-12.

Salisbury managed to control the ensuing draw, however, and despite a turnover the Lions were unable to get off another shot.

The Lions had few answers for McNulty (6G/1A) and Camryn Pepper (4G/2A), who combined for 10 goals on the day. Hisle turned in a strong performance with 10 saves, including several on free-position attempts.

Madison Wernik made her presence felt all over the field, racking up six ground balls and three caused turnovers. Wayden Ay had three caused turnovers and three ground balls, and Sabrina Phillips matched them by causing three turnovers.

Devlin controlled four draws, with Tobler, Phillips, and Jillian Westerby adding three each.

With six points on the day, LaRocca surpassed 150 for her career. 

Salisbury held a slight edge in shots (32-28), while TCNJ won the draw battle by a 16-15 margin and put 22 shots on goal to the Sea Gulls' 21 in a statistically even contest.

Julia Charest finished with six saves for the Lions.

TCNJ returns to NJAC play with a road trip to Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday.