No. 5 TCNJ Nabs Season-Opening Win
St. Mary’s City, Md. – Junior midfielder Ali Jaeger (Hampton, N.J./North Hunterdon) exploded for 11 points on eight goals and three assists to power No. 5 The College of New Jersey to a 16-6 season-opening victory over the St. Mary’s College of Maryland women’s lacrosse team Friday afternoon.
Joining Jaeger with a multiple-point effort was sophomore midfielder Leigh Mitchell (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape). Mitchell contributed three goals and four assists while senior attacker Robin Deehan (Morris Plains, N.J./Academy of St. Elizabeth) tallied two goals and two assists.
TCNJ (1-0) rattled off seven unanswered goals to start off the contest, including a Jaeger hat trick. First-year midfielder Lauriann Parker (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) finally put the Seahawks on the scoreboard with her free-position goal at 13:47 and then Parker scored her second at 2:52 off an assist from first-year midfielder Erin Shackelford (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) to cut the Lions’ lead to 8-2 at halftime.
Senior captain Nora Fallon-Oben (Silver Spring, Md./St. John’s College [D.C.]) was St. Mary’s (0-5) leading scorer with three goals while Parker finished with her two first-half goals.
The two squads went tick-for-tack for the first six goals of the second half before the Lions notched four straight to bolster their lead to 15-5 with 5:45 remaining in the contest. Fallon-Oben converted a pass from junior midfielder Hannah Cooley (Abington, Pa./Abington) for the Seahawks’ final goal at 2:23 while Jaeger converted her free-position shot at 00:31 to finish off the scoring for TCNJ.
TCNJ outshot the hosts, 34-16, while also edging the Seahawks, 20-17, in ground balls as Deehan scooped up a game-high four loose balls.
The Lions dominated draw controls as well, 15-9, as Deehan and Jaeger each had a game-best four apiece.
Junior goalie Mary Waller (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) made six saves in the win while Seahawk junior Jamie Roberts (Rockville, Md./Barrie) and sophomore Colleen Simpson (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) turned away a combined 10 shots with Simpson making seven stops in the second half.
St. Mary’s will return to action in sunny Florida when the Seahawks face Dickinson College at Walt Disney’s Wide World of Sports on Wednesday, March 17 at 12:00 pm.
