EWING, N.J. – The No. 7 TCNJ lacrosse team opened NJAC play with a bang on Saturday, using a nine-goal run in the first half to pull away from visiting Montclair State for a comfortable 18-3 victory at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on Saturday.

Jennifer LaRocca paced the Lions (8-1, 1-0) with five goals and two assists and had six teammates join her with multi-goal efforts.

The Lions were firing on all cylinders from the jump. Despite conceding the opening goal on a free-position shot, TCNJ swiftly wrested control right back from the Red Hawks, running off nine unanswered goals bridging the quarter break.

LaRocca got the home side on the board, dodging through the lane and finishing through contact for the first of her four first-half tallies. About a minute later, Anna Wright fed a cutting Ally Tobler to give TCNJ the lead for good.

LaRocca, Jillian Westerby, and Wright all scored on perfectly placed free-position shots in a span of less than two minutes before Veronika O'Donnell potted the first of two first-half markers on a transition assist from LaRocca following a Montclair State turnover. LaRocca added two more goals in the first period, the second on an attempted pass that deflected into the back of the cage, to get the Lions out to an 8-1 lead after one.

The teams traded second-period goals before Westerby finished through a stick-check to the head to make it 10-2 just shy of the midway point of the frame. Natalie Berry then took over, depositing a free-position attempt and instituting a running clock with a goal on a beautiful feed from Larissa Hatzold with 1:26 left in the opening half.

TCNJ kept piling on in the second half, scoring five unanswered goals to open up a massive advantage. Tobler started the scoring with a transition goal, then Morgan Vaccaro fed a cutting LaRocca for a top-shelf laser.

Devlin passed from behind the cage to Wright for an easy finish to make it 15-2 before Wright returned the favor to Devlin with a carbon-copy play. Tobler capped the third-quarter spree with a goal on an assist from Berry with just under a minute remaining.

Tristin Konen briefly stopped the bleeding for Montclair State with a goal in the first minute of the fourth, but TCNJ had the last laugh with a goal by Devlin at the 6:45 mark to cap the scoring.

LaRocca added seven points to her NJAC-leading tally, while Tobler scored three goals to extend her streak of a hat-trick in every game.

Berry, Devlin, and O'Donnell all paired two goals with an assist.

Devlin and Westerby each racked up eight draw controls, propelling TCNJ to a 20-4 surplus in that category. The Lions put 26 of their 34 shots on goal and allowed just 12 shots to the Red Hawks.

Julia Charest finished with six saves, while Wayden Ay spearheaded the defensive effort with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.