EWING, N.J. – The No. 19 TCNJ field hockey team started a lengthy stretch of Centennial Conference competition with a resounding 3-0 shutout of visiting Haverford on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Mackenzie Hart, Jadyn Huff, and Kara Wilson all hit the back of the cage for the Lions (4-0), who were on the front foot from the jump in a matchup of unbeatens. The game marked the first of four consecutive games against Centennial squads, the next three of which are all nationally ranked.
 
The Lions dominated the opening quarter, putting a Haverford team that had already beaten then-No. 12 Cortland in the early part of the season on its heels with a barrage of nine shots. Wilson struck first, collecting the loose change from a rebounded Hart shot and depositing into an open cage for a 1-0 lead just shy of the 8-minute mark.
 
Despite its firm control of the proceedings, TCNJ was unable to extend its lead until, oddly, the Fords (3-1) earned a corner in the final minute of the third quarter. Avery Vacca stripped a Haverford player just outside the circle and passed up the right sideline for Julia Neff, who carried down the field with Hart and Huff joining her to form a 3-on-1 break. It was Hart who was the beneficiary of Neff's cross, stuffing home one of her career-high 10 shots to make it 2-0 with 23 seconds left in the period.
 
Huff made it 3-0 with a late insurance tally, ripping home a corner injection from Prisha Dhruve from the edge of the circle with 2:56 to go.
 
In addition to combining with her backfield mates for a terrific defensive performance, Taylor Wielechowski was also a threat on the other end of the field. In the second quarter, she fed a terrific pass up to a hard-charging Hart, who rounded Ionescu but saw her shot land just wide in the side netting.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ outshot Haverford, 20-7, overall and 12-6 in shots on goal
• The Lions inserted 10 corners to the Fords' five
• Steph Ionescu finished with nine saves for Haverford
• Brigitte Racey had six saves, including two apiece in the third and fourth quarters, for her second solo shutout of the season
• Hart piled up a remarkable 10 shots, and eight of them were on cage
• Huff finished with five shots and Wilson added three

NOTES

• Racey's shutout was the 11^th of her career
• Wilson, the reigning NJAC Offensive Player of the Week, scored for the fifth time in her last three games
• Huff has a point in all four games this season, and Dhruve has an assist in three straight
• This was the first all-time meeting between the programs

UP NEXT

• TCNJ welcomes No. 6 Johns Hopkins to the FH/Lax Complex for a top-20 showdown on Saturday