EWING, N.J. – The No. 23 TCNJ field hockey team kicked off the 2025 campaign in style with a 2-0 shutout of visiting Catholic on a glorious late-summer afternoon Saturday.
 
Ali Simmons opened the scoring early in the second quarter and Emma Jordan – marking her return to action since missing all of last season due to injury – added some insurance with her first collegiate goal with 4:55 left in the final frame.
 
TCNJ dominated the first half, racking up a 10-1 advantage in shots and an 8-1 edge in corners, but it took until the second quarter for its persistence to pay off. The opening salvo came just under three minutes into the period, when Simmons inserted a corner to Jadyn Huff, took the return pass and slotted home into the open left side of the cage.
 
The Cardinals, on the back foot for large stretches, finally notched their first shot – off their initial corner – with just over a minute left until half.
 
The red-clad visitors, however, flipped the field in the third quarter, firing off four shots and forcing Lions keeper Brigitte Racey into a pair of saves. Catholic had a golden chance to equalize with 4:31 to go in the third, but Maddie Pennisi's penalty stroke ricocheted off the crossbar and fell harmlessly to the turf.
 
TCNJ took back the momentum in the fourth quarter, and a stretch of sustained pressure culminated in Jordan's watershed goal as the senior punched home the rebound off a hard Huff shot that was parried away by the Cardinal keeper.
 
Racey was called upon once more, on a shot from close range about 30 seconds later, but was equal to the task.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ owned an 18-6 advantage in shots, putting 10 of them on target, and racked up 14 penalty corners to the Cardinals' five
• Pennisi accounted for three of Catholic's shots, while Huff (5), Mackenzie Hart (4), and Isabel Maher (3) paced the attack for the Lions
• Racey finished with three saves, while Emma Bowman had eight for the visitors

NOTES

• Simmons' goal was the third of her career
• Racey registered her 10^th career shutout
• The teams matched up in a season opener for the eighth straight season, with the Lions improving to 7-1 in those meetings

UP NEXT

• TCNJ heads to DeSales on Wednesday