EWING, N.J. – With its offense taking slightly longer than usual to get going, TCNJ turned to its defense and the draw to dust off a slow start and surge past No. 16 Cortland, 13-6, in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

Anna Devlin netted a season-high five goals and added an assist and got plenty of support from Anna Wright (three goals, two assists) and Ally Tobler (three goals, one assist) to help the Lions snap Cortland's 16-game winning streak and book their spot in the NCAA quarterfinals against top-ranked and reigning national champion Salisbury, a 16-3 winner over Kenyon. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m. Sunday back on the Lions' home turf.

The Red Dragons put TCNJ in uncharted waters early, jumping out to a 2-0 lead and holding the high-powered hosts off the scoreboard for the first 11-plus minutes of game time.

The Lions got untracked with 4:38 to go in the period, when Devlin triggered a transition opportunity and fed off to Tobler, who passed to a wide-open Natalie Berry on the left side for an easy finish to get the hosts on the board.

TCNJ tacked on two more before quarter's end, first at 2:03 when Devlin found space at the right post and plugged an empty top corner of the cage and again 37 seconds later on a dazzling display of speed by Tobler, who picked up an errant Cortland pass at the yellow line and blazed downfield before using a one-cut move to free herself for a shot into the lower right portion of the net.

Devlin passed to a cutting Wright for a smooth finish about a minute into the second quarter. Less than 30 seconds after the Red Dragons stopped a four-goal spurt by TCNJ, Wright came around the post and fired home top right to restore a two-goal edge.

After Cortland cut the margin to one a second time, Devlin capitalized on a gamble by a Cortland defender, who leapt to intercept a pass from Larissa Hatzold but came up empty and gave the junior plenty of space at the right post to make it 6-4 just shy of the midway point of the second quarter.

Wright polished off her first-half hat-trick with a free-position bouncer, then hit a cutting Tobler for a quick-fire shot to extend the lead to 8-4 and force a timeout by the red and white with 3:55 to go in the half.

Charest put in another sensational effort, making a handful of quick-trigger saves with Red Dragon attackers right on the doorstep. Two of them came on free-position opportunities, one a direct shot and another a pass to a waiting Cortland player right on the post. The sophomore had four saves in the first quarter alone and six in the first half.

The Lions put their foot down in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 10-4 in the first five minutes as Devlin and Wayden Ay converted free-position efforts. Ay's was a top-shelf rocket past Paige Potter for the defender's ninth goal of the season.

After the Red Dragons snapped a stretch of 20-plus minutes without a goal, Tobler regained a six-goal lead after depositing a feed from Jennifer LaRocca to make it 11-5 at the 1:56 mark of the third. The goal extended Tobler's streak of hat-tricks to all 19 games this season and gave LaRocca her first point of the afternoon.

Devlin made it 12-6 with 7:52 to play on a bruising free-position effort, dashing in and scoring her fourth goal of the day – and 40^th of the year – before bowling over a defender trying to take a charge. The junior tallied her fifth of the contest on a beautiful feed from Wright, which pushed the margin out to 13-6 with 4:26 remaining.

TCNJ was thoroughly dominant from the early portions of the second quarter and on. After Cortland scored to make it a 5-4 game with 9:43 on the clock in the second, the Lions did not allow a goal until the 3:30 mark of the third quarter, accumulating a massive advantage in shots in the process after the teams were even at 6-6 after one period of play.

While Potter's brilliant play (17 saves) kept the Lions from truly running away with the game, TCNJ's dominance on the draw made all the difference. With Sabrina Phillips racking up a game-high eight and Jillian Westerby adding four, the Lions commanded a 18-5 surplus in the circle, allowing for extra possessions and drastically hampering the Red Dragons' rally efforts.

Madison Wernik had two caused turnovers for the TCNJ defense, which limited the Red Dragons to just nine shots and two goals over the final 45 minutes. Sophia Pappalardo picked up a career-high six ground balls and Charest added four to go with her eight saves.

Devlin controlled three draws and scored on both of her free-position shots for the Lions, who finished with a robust 40-15 advantage in shots.

The Lions now get a highly anticipated rematch with Salisbury in the regional final. The Sea Gulls came to Ewing on April 23 and scored a 15-12 victory on TCNJ's home turf.