EWING, N.J. – Trailing by four goals late in the first half against the nation's top-ranked team and the reigning national champion, the TCNJ lacrosse team's outlook appeared bleak. Then everything changed in the third quarter, and the Lions are Final Four bound.

The Lions pulled a goal back late in the second quarter and outscored the Sea Gulls, 6-1, in the third and 9-3 in the second half to score a monumental 14-11 victory, claiming a regional title in front of their home fans and booking a trip to Salem, Virginia, for championship weekend. TCNJ will meet the winner of Sunday night's Tufts-Franklin & Marshall clash in the national semifinals on Saturday.

Anna Devlin, Jennifer LaRocca, and Anna Wright scored three goals apiece and Wayden Ay chipped in two crucial second-quarter tallies for TCNJ (18-2), which avenged a regular-season loss to the same Salisbury squad and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2018. The Lions now head south in search of two more victories and their first national title since 2006.

Just like Saturday's third-round game against Cortland, TCNJ found itself in an early 2-0 hole. They climbed out quickly on the strength of back-to-back free-position goals by LaRocca and Anna Devlin, who knotted the game with 8:33 to go in the first.

The Sea Gulls again nosed out by a pair before LaRocca went left on a free-position shot and found the back of the cage to make it 4-3 with 9:53 to go in the second. Salisbury tallied the next two markers, but it was Ay who surprisingly kept the Lions within range, depositing the first of two first-half goals on an eight-meter conversion to trim the reigning champs' lead to 6-4.

The Sea Gulls made another move to pull away with the last of four two-goal spurts, but Ay pulled a crucial marker back with 27.2 seconds remaining in the first half on a sensational individual effort. The junior defender took a pass from LaRocca and maneuvered her way through a crowd of gold-shirted defenders before firing low right past Mary Claire Hisle for her second of the afternoon to send the Lions into the break with a more manageable 8-5 deficit.

TCNJ started the second half on the right foot, closing to within two on Wright's free-position conversion, the team's fifth of the afternoon, with a woman-up opportunity. LaRocca's 100^th career goal – on another free-position strike – cut it to 8-7 before Devlin controlled the ensuing draw and drove all the way down for a left-handed shot that found the back of the cage and pulled the Lions even at 8-8 with 7:57 to go in the third.

LaRocca became the third player in program history with both 100 goals and 100 assists for a career.

Salisbury snapped TCNJ's four-goal run and went back in front, 9-8, on a goal by Emma Skoglund, but Wright equalized again on a driving shot that deflected off the keeper's stick and in with 5:03 showing on the third-quarter timer. A few minutes later, Ally Tobler gave the Lions their first lead of the day on a free-position bouncer.

TCNJ seized a huge momentum shift at the end of the period, when Tobler saw her shot bounce off the post. LaRocca picked it up and found Devlin all alone at the right post, and the junior fired a quick shot into the back of the cage with exactly one second left to hand the hosts an 11-9 lead and put a bow on the game-turning frame.

A Final Four berth seemed all but destined when Wright scored a woman-down goal with a hard shot to the top right of the net, making it 12-9 TCNJ with 10:48 remaining. The lead then reached four as Larissa Hatzold bounced yet another free-position goal past Hisle to give TCNJ a 13-9 upper hand just before the midway point of the fourth.

Salisbury got a glimmer of hope when TCNJ was whistled for a non-releasable infraction, giving the visitors two full minutes with an extra player. The Sea Gulls got one goal back with 5:16 left, but Tobler picked up the ensuing draw and Salisbury picked up a yellow of its own to short-circuit its comeback hopes. Tobler's empty-net tally with 1:28 to go made it 14-10 and sealed the Sea Gulls' fate.

In a game played to a draw in almost every statistical category, the draw circle made all the difference. The Lions racked up a 19-9 surplus in draws, with Sabrina Phillips securing eight for the second game in a row and Devlin chipped in with five to create a massive advantage for the hosts.

Kileigh Pfluger caused three turnovers to lead the defense, while Ay picked up four ground balls to go with a caused turnover. Julia Charest finished with eight saves, including several remarkable second-half stops.