MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The TCNJ women's lacrosse team officially began conference play with a dominant 19-0 road victory against Montclair State on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions (9-2, 1-0 NJAC) won the game after holding a massive 42-to-4 shots advantage, while also edging Montclair State (3-8, 0-1 NJAC) with a 21-16 edge in ground balls.

The shutout victory marked the first time TCNJ has achieved two in a single season since 2018. The first shutout came against Farmingdale State nearly a month ago that saw a 15-0 victory.

The game's first goal was scored almost as quickly as the match began, as senior Jillian Westerby kicked off the onslaught just 57 seconds into the first quarter. Fellow senior Anna Wright followed up minutes later by scoring the 100th goal of her career. Westerby flashed her playmaking after assisting Anna Devlin for the Lions' third goal of the game.

Senior Katherine Naiburg continued her breakout offensive season with her first of three goals in the game before Westerby assisted on another Lions score, this time to Ally Tobler. With 1:48 left in the quarter, Devlin rounded out TCNJ's massive six-goal first quarter with her second score of the game.

TCNJ would balloon the lead into double digits in the second frame to enter halftime up by 10 goals. Tobler recorded the first goal on an assist by Devlin, before Wright found the back of the net on a free position shot with 6:16 left in the half. Twelve seconds later, the senior secured a first-half hat trick on another score. Tobler would secure a first-half hat trick of her own a minute later after getting a perfect set up from Larissa Hatzold.

Wright kept her big offensive day rolling just moments into the third with her fourth goal of the game. Moments later, Hatzold joined in on the scoring with her first goal via a free position shot to push the lead to 12-0.

With 6:52 left in the quarter, Naiburg scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot. Tobler followed up by tacking on her fourth score before Wright scored her fifth and final goal of the game with just under two minutes to go, giving the Lions a 15-0 lead.

In the fourth, Kira Sides recorded her first career point after setting up Tobler's fifth score of the match with a little over 11 minutes to go. Moments later, Naiburg recorded a hat trick to give the Lions a 17 goal lead. Sides would continue a day of firsts by scoring her first collegiate goal on a man-up situation. She was assisted by Devlin.

The final goal of the game came with 48 seconds left after freshman Sydney Sieja was set up by Natalie Berry.

Junior goalie Julia Charest earned her ninth win of the season after making two saves in the first half. She was swapped for sophomore Hailey Wexler in the second half, who also recorded a pair of saves of her own.

In the game, senior Sabrina Phillips eclipsed the 200 Draw Controls mark in her career, becoming the eighth Lion in program history to reach this mark, joining teammate Anna Devlin.

Devlin finished the game with a team-high 12 draw controls, while teammate Madison Wernik recorded a game-best seven ground balls. 

Following Easter Sunday, the Lions will return home to the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in a matchup against conference-rival Rowan.