EWING N.J. – The TCNJ women's lacrosse team won its 12th consecutive NJAC Championship on a sunny Saturday afternoon. In the 16-9 victory over Rowan, junior Ally Tobler and senior Anna Wright led the Lions with five and four goals, respectively.
The first quarter was a high scoring one, with 12 goals split between the teams. For TCNJ, three players were responsible for their nine goals on the board. Anna Devlin started the party three minutes into the game with an assist from Wright. Wright added her own goal less than one minute later. This would be her first of four in just the first quarter. Tobler completed a hat-trick of her own in the first quarter, the first off of an assist by Katherine Naiburg. Devlin added another goal to her count halfway through the quarter off of a free position shot.
Not even one minute into the second quarter, Tobler fired a shot that was saved by Rowan goalkeeper Mel Rodgers. Morgan Vaccaro quickly picked up the ground ball and netted her first goal of the game. The other Lion goal in the second quarter came from Devlin off of another Naiburg assist. Rowan matched TCNJ with goals for the quarter, resulting in a halftime score of 11-5.
Rowan drew first blood in the third quarter on a goal from Jamie Cutrera off an assist from Erin Renshaw. TCNJ answered back with a goal from Jill Westerby with the assist to Naiburg with just under seven minutes left in the quarter. Just one minute later Tobler sent her fourth goal of the day to the back of the net. The rest of the quarter remained scoreless, resulting in a 13-6 score heading into the final quarter.
After assisting on three Lions goals, Naiburg finally got one of her own in the first few minutes of the fourth. After a few back and forth possessions, Tobler came up with her fifth goal of the day with just under six remaining in the game. Rowan's Cutrera attempted to lessen the deficit, scoring two more goals in the fourth, but a Naiburg goal off an assist by Devlin halted that effort. The Lions prevented any more Rowan goals, making the final score 16-9.
In the victory, the Lions outshot Rowan, 39-25. Devlin collected 12 draw controls to help secure the win. Julia Charest had an outstanding game in net, with 11 saves on the day.
With the win and NJAC Championship secured, TCNJ has received an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse National Tournament. They will return to action next weekend for the first round, and will find out their opponent during the selection show on Monday at 10:30 a.m. on NCAA.com.
