The College of New Jersey Athletics

EWING, N.J. - The TCNJ women's soccer team kicked off its home slate in a big way Wednesday night, erupting for five second-half goals in a 6-1 win over Arcadia. The Lions' five tallies are the most in a single half since 2023, when they scored five in the second half in a 9-1 victory over Rutgers-Newark.
 
It was a quick start to Wednesday's match for TCNJ (3-0), which took just 1:06 to score the game's opening goal. Jenny Ward carried the ball into Knight territory before sending a perfectly-weighted pass toward a cutting Maggie Murphy. The junior took one touch to beat Arcadia's netminder, Olivia Petty, and slotted the ball into the open net to give the Lions an almost-immediate 1-0 lead.
 
TCNJ's scoring came to a screeching halt from there, however, with Petty showcasing her short-term memory to the tune of 10 first-half saves following the miscue – including several highlight reel rejections – to keep the Knights within striking distance.
 
The freshman was rewarded for her efforts just under halfway through the opening stanza, when Arcadia's Miley Barrett turned the Knights' first shot into a goal on a world-class effort from 25 yards out, rejecting what the game script would have suggested the score be and leveling the game at one, where it would remain until the halftime break.
 
After Arcadia registered the first shot of the second half just two minutes in, it was the Lions absolutely taking over en route to five second-half goals and a five-goal victory.
 
Ward – who wreaked all kinds of havoc on the left wing throughout the game – got things started in the 65th minute. Corralling a cross that got past everybody, the junior beat not one, but two defenders inside the18 before firing a curling shot that found the far corner to give TCNJ back the lead at 2-1.
 
Once Ward put one past the newly entered Chelsea Coburn, the floodgates opened for the hosts. From the 64:37 mark – Ward's goal – to the 83:35 mark, the Lions got goals from Murphy and Taylor Bielan, as well as the first career goals for Ava Visaggio and Kate Johnson, to turn their one-goal lead into a 6-1 thrashing that would hold until the final whistle.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ held a commanding 37-8 lead in shots, including a 21-5 edge in shots on goal.
• The Lions took 12 corners to Arcadia's one.
• Murphy paired her season-opening hat trick with a brace tonight to push her goal tally to five through just three games in 2026.
• Ward, Bielan, Johnson and Visaggio added themselves to the scorer's column, with Alyssa Alfano, Samantha Rizzi, Sam Sosnicki and Ward adding assists.
• Starting goalkeeper Olivia Petty made 10 saves in just 45 minutes for the Knights.
  • Ellen Williams finished with four saves.

NOTES

• Murphy's five goals are already a season-best mark, topping her four from a season ago.
• Alfano extended her streak of regular-season games with a point to nine dating back to last year with her assist on Murphy's second goal.
• Ward's three assists in 2026 are already more than her first two seasons combined (2), with her game-winning goal serving as the junior's first of her 2026 campaign.
• Sosnicki's assist on Visaggio's goal was the second of her career, while Rizzi's was her first.
• Nineteen players saw at least 20 minutes of action for TCNJ.

UP NEXT

• The Lions will host 13th-ranked Swarthmore Saturday, Sept. 12, with kickoff slated for noon.