EWING, N.J. – The No. 14 TCNJ women's lacrosse team capped off an unbeaten extended home stand with a 13-11 victory over Roanoke on Saturday afternoon.
 
Marissa Lucca produced three goals and four assists, Kelly Nevins scored a hat-trick of her own, and CJ Kole paired two goals with two assists and dominated on the draw to help the Lions (6-0) go 4-0 on their home turf for the month.
 
After a back-and-forth beginning, the momentum shifted late in the first quarter. With TCNJ leading 3-2, Hailey Wexler stoned both a free-position attempt by Maddie McDonald and a follow-up attempt on the doorstep, and the Lions went down the field and scored on a free-position marker by Nevins. The tide continued to turn before the end of the period as Kole rifled an eight-meter rocket into the back of the cage with 35 seconds to play to hand TCNJ a 5-2 lead after one.
 
The second stanza ended much like the first, with a blue and gold flourish. After Lucca's 150^th career goal had given the hosts a 6-3 lead, the Maroons (2-5) trimmed the spread down to just one at 6-5. That was as close as this one got, though the one-goal margin did reappear in the second half.
 
After Herlihy found space in the middle of the defense and roofed a feed from Kole, Roanoke was charged with a non-releasable yellow card at the 1:13 mark of the quarter, and the Lions took full advantage as Emily Potenza potted her first career goal on a free-position tally with 56 seconds to go to up the advantage to 8-5 at the break. The Lions nearly added another before intermission, but Nevin's spinning shot was denied by a nice save from the Maroon net-minder following a draw control by Potenza.
 
Roanoke came out strong in the third, once more closing to within one on a pair of goals just over a minute apart. Another non-releasable yellow, however, gave the Lions the player advantage they needed to regain some separation, starting with a free-position conversion from Lucca at the 9:30 mark.
 
No sooner had the yellow card penalty time expired than the Maroons were assessed a green card, and Nevins made it 10-7 after sending a Lucca pass into the back of the cage.
 
Roanoke pulled one goal back to close within 10-8, only for the Lions to put the game away with a flourish to open the fourth. Nevins finished off her hat-trick 11 seconds into the final frame, then Kole and Evie Campbell netted impressive goals off cutting actions in a 37-second span to stretch the lead out to 13-8 and force a Maroon timeout with 10:44 remaining.
 
Roanoke managed to make one more run and trimmed the TCNJ lead to 13-11 with 2:16 to play, but a green card allowed the home side to run off more than a minute of clock, and Potenza's 50^th career caused turnover effectively ended it.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ outshot the Maroons, 36-27, including a 29-18 advantage after the first quarter
• After turning it over just once in the first quarter, Roanoke committed 18 miscues over the final three frames
• TCNJ was 21-of-22 on clear attempts
• The teams were dead even on the draw (13-13)
• The Lions went 4-for-6 on free-position attempts, while Roanoke was 2-for-6

 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Lucca and Nevins each netted a hat-trick
• Kole piled up 10 draw controls to go with her pair of goals and assists
• Campbell and Herlihy each scored twice, with the latter tacking on three ground balls and two caused turnovers
• Abby Williams finished with three caused turnovers and three ground balls
• Potenza had three draws and two grounders in addition to her milestone goal
• Hailey Wexler finished with six saves

 
NOTES

• Kole became the 24^th player in program history to eclipse 100 draw controls
• Kole also moved into a tie for 14^th on the all-time assists list with 63 and counting
• Lucca is the 24^th TCNJ player to surpass 150 career goals; she also took over sole possession of 7^th on the all-time assists list (80) and a tie for 14^th on the all-time points charts (231)
• Emily Potenza notched her 50^th career caused turnover, putting her in the all-time top-25
• TCNJ improved to 8-0 all-time in the series; which had previously resumed with a March meeting in 2023 after lying dormant since the teams met every year between 1991 and 1995
• The Lions are off to a 6-0 start for the first time since winning their first seven games in 2023

 
UP NEXT

• TCNJ heads to Muhlenberg for a battle of unbeatens on Wednesday, March 25