CAMDEN, N.J. – A 10-goal first quarter propelled the No. 7 TCNJ lacrosse team to a resounding 22-1 victory at Rutgers-Camden in NJAC action on Tuesday afternoon.
Ally Tobler scored five goals,
Jillian Westerby added four, and
Jennifer LaRocca dished out six assists as the Lions (12-2, 5-0) reached a running-clock lead before the first period had expired.
Tobler and
Natalie Berry scored 34 seconds apart to open the scoring, and then came a run of three goals in less than a minute, two of them from Westerby. Katharine Naiburg and LaRocca got on the board before Tobler sandwiched two more markers around one from
Anna Devlin to expand the lead to 10-0 with just under a minute to go in the first.
Westerby found the back of the cage 18 seconds into the second quarter and Berry and Tobler scored in quick succession to make it 13-0 before the Scarlet Raptors got on the board just past the midway point of the second stanza.
Morgan Vaccaro's unassisted tally preceded one by Wright with 2:16 to play, sending TCNJ into the break with a 15-1 advantage.
The Lions tacked on four more goals in the third quarter, including the first career marker for rookie
Emily Rau.
Brianna Hatzold scored her first two goals in a TCNJ uniform in the fourth quarter, bookending her tallies around one by defender
Wayden Ay.
TCNJ dominated in shots (36-6) and shots on goal (27-4), and controlled 25 of the game's 27 draws. Much of that was due to reigning NJAC defensive player of the week
Sabrina Phillips, who racked up a career-high 11 to finish one shy of Devlin's single-game program record. Devlin and Westerby notched six apiece, while Ay led the defensive unit with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
Julia Charest had one save in the first half before giving way to
Hailey Wexler, who had two in the second half without surrendering a goal.
LaRocca's six assists gave her 53 for the season, already good for fourth in a single season in school history. She moved into sole possession of sixth on the all-time list with 82, just four away from fourth place.
TCNJ wraps up the regular season with a home game against Ramapo on Saturday, when the Lions will honor
Brianna Hatzold and LaRocca on Senior Day.