EWING, N.J. – The No. 10 TCNJ women's lacrosse team started strong against No. 1 Middlebury on Thursday, but the two-time reigning national champions pulled away with a first-quarter run and kept the hosts at arm's length en route to a 14-6 victory in a tilt of top-10 powerhouses.
 
On the first day of March Madness, the Lions put a hint of an upset in the air after taking a 2-1 lead past the midway point of the first quarter. The Panthers, however, reeled off six straight goals before the end of the frame and never saw their lead dip below five in running their overall winning streak to 34 games.
 
Julia Charest put up an admirable effort against the high-powered Panthers, matching her career high with 15 saves – including nine in the second half alone.
 
FOR THE RECORD

• Middlebury improved to 6-0 with its second win over a top-10 team in three days, while TCNJ took its first loss of the season and fell to 5-1

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Middlebury needed little over a minute to get the scoring started on a goal by Caroline Adams, but Marissa Lucca leveled the contest with a free-position tally
• TCNJ took a short-lived lead when Morgan Vaccaro scooped up a loose ball just outside the crease and deposited the ball into the net, making it 2-1 to the home side with 6:34 on the first-quarter clock
• Anna Spehr quickly tied the game, however, and Middlebury nudged in front for good on a goal by Hope Shue at the 4:32 mark. The Panthers scored twice more in the next minute and change, then made it 6-2 with 1:16 to go in the quarter. Susan Rowley extended the run to six straight markers with 4 seconds left, sending the visitors to a 7-2 lead after one
• The TCNJ defense stiffened from there, allowing just four goals over the next two quarters. The Lions never got their offense untracked, however, and were unable to get closer than five
• Ally Tobler's woman-down goal with 3:58 left in the third cut the Middlebury lead to 10-5, but Spehr countered with a marker on the player advantage just over a minute later to restore a six-goal edge after three
• The Panthers tacked on three straight goals in the fourth before Tobler capped the scoring with 6:17 to go on a feed from Lucca

FOR THE FOES

• Shue, Spehr, and Rowley all scored three goals
• Adams paired two goals with three assists and also had eight draw controls
• Maggie Couglin scored a goal and handed out three assists

STANDOUT LIONS

• Tobler netted a hat-trick with three goals
• Lucca scored one goal and assisted on three others, including two of Tobler's tallies
• Charest matched her career high with 15 saves, six of them coming in the third quarter and three apiece in each of the other three periods
• Madison Wernik, Kileigh Pfluger, and Charest each finished with three ground balls and two caused turnovers
• Emily Potenza paired two grounders with two caused turnovers, and Sydney Sieja also forced two Panther miscues

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Middlebury racked up a 37-10 advantage in shots and an 18-5 edge in the draw circle
• Middlebury committed more turnovers (22) than TCNJ (21), but the Panthers were 13-for-13 on clears while the Lions were just 11-for-20
• The Panthers earned 11 free-position shots – scoring on five – while allowing only one to TCNJ

NOTES

• With three points, Tobler moved into the all-time top-20 at TCNJ with 207 and counting
• Charest is now tied with Megan Marquardt '06 for 9^th all-time with 286 career saves

UP NEXT

• The Lions host No. 6 Gettysburg – last year's national runner-up to Middlebury – next Wednesday at home