SALEM, VA. – Sixteen years have passed since the last time the TCNJ lacrosse team lifted the NCAA championship trophy.
The Lions have come oh so close since capturing the most recent of their 12 national titles in 2006: semifinal appearances in 2008 and 2011, a runner-up showing in 2017, another semifinal in 2018. But the ultimate prize has eluded them, and this newest iteration of the most successful lacrosse program in Division III history is desperate to change that.
The Lions get their chance to do just that this weekend. Awaiting them in the second of two national semifinals on Saturday is a familiar foe – and a chance to exorcise some recent demons. The Jumbos have ended each of TCNJ’s last two NCAA Tournament appearances, claiming a 17-13 decision in the third round in 2019 before eking out an 11-10 nail-biter in last year’s quarterfinals. Now the two powers meet again – and the Lions are hoping the third time is the charm.
“I was looking forward to playing them the whole season,” said senior attack Jenny LaRocca, yesterday named a first-team All-American by the IWLCA.
Small wonder, too, considering how last season’s matchup played out. The Lions trailed 8-6 early in the second half before reeling off four consecutive goals in a span of three minutes to go up by two with 18:38 to go. But TCNJ never scored again, and Tufts’ go-ahead goal with 12:48 left was the last of the contest that junior defender Sabrina Phillips deemed “heartbreaking.”
“I think if we had two more minutes last year we would’ve had it,” said All-American defender Wayden Ay. “We know what we have to fix, even from last year, and this year we’re a totally different team.”
TCNJ is looking to halt the Jumbos’ journey to a national championship that eluded them by the smallest of margins a year ago. The Lions have already denied them a similar shot at revenge by eliminating reigning national champion Salisbury, which ended Tufts’ season in the semifinals in 2019 and the title game last spring, when the Sea Gulls escaped with a 14-13 thriller.
Many around the lacrosse world certainly expected Tufts to get a shot at revenge. And it looked like the matchup would materialize again when the Sea Gulls controlled an 8-4 advantage late in the first half of Sunday’s regional final. But everything changed in the third quarter, when the Lions rolled up a 6-1 edge and never looked back. The sudden avalanche of momentum seemed to stun the Sea Gulls, who brought a huge contingent of fans to Ewing and mostly cruised to a 15-12 victory on the same turf less than a month prior.
“We played them at home the first time and our fans definitely weren’t as prepared as they were this time,” LaRocca said. “After the first time my family was like, ‘Alright, we’re bringing everyone down, we’re ready for this.’ The whole environment, it was a great thing to be a part of.”
Despite the three consecutive semifinal appearances, the Jumbos are a relative newcomer to the upper echelon of women’s lacrosse, the only one of the four remaining programs without a national title. Tufts is making its seventh NCAA appearance, posting a 15-6 overall mark in its tournament history.
Tufts lost half its starting lineup from last year’s side, but many key cogs remain, including a trio of All-Americans in senior midfielder Anna Clarke, senior defender Kathryn Delaney, and senior goalie Molly Laliberty. The latter has enjoyed a decorated career, with a pair of NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year awards and two first-team All-America certificates from the IWLCA. Laliberty is seventh in Division III in save percentage (.544) and 14th in goals-against average (7.92).
Also a two-time first-team All-American, Clarke has racked up 107 draw controls and will challenge TCNJ’s exceptional draw-control unit for supremacy in the circle, and senior defenders Ananda Kao and Madison Lehan help to form a lock-down duo in front of Laliberty.
Rookie attack Margie Carden, a second-team All-American, has burst onto the national scene with a team-high 61 goals, including five in the NESCAC championship win over Middlebury. Freshman midfielder Caroline Conaghan (33G/12A) and junior midfielder Caroline Walter (36G) are also integral to the offensive arsenal.
TCNJ, however, knows it has the talent to match – in all areas of the field. With LaRocca keying the offense, the Lions are 11th in the country in goals per game (17.35). Third-team All-American Ally Tobler is just three goals away from a new single-season program record for goals (87), while Anna Wright has hat-tricks in each of her last three to run her season tally to 55 goals. Anna Devlin (44G/17A), Jillian Westerby (31G/10A), and Natalie Berry (24G) combine with the rest to give TCNJ a fully-stocked arsenal.
LaRocca is in the midst of the most prolific campaign in program history, with a school-record 134 points and counting.
“It’s not something I ever really expected, and I wouldn’t even say it was a goal I had,” she said. “Every game I just go out and do the best I can. This season I really wanted to shift to being a feeder and assisting my teammates a little bit more, and I think that helped me reach those goals.”
Then there’s the circle, where the Lions feel their greatest advantage lies. Devlin, Sabrina Phillips, and Westerby have combined to help TCNJ win more than two-thirds of draw controls this season, including a stunning 37-14 surplus against Cortland and Salisbury in the regional rounds. Devlin (124) and Phillips (118) have already shattered the previous single-season mark for draws, and Westerby (81) will likely end up close to triple-digits herself.
The mechanics of the draw – with the ball so often flying into the waiting stick of a wing – are stunning to behold. The unit is fine-tuned and choreographed to a remarkable degree, and only one team (Middlebury, by a narrow 14-12 margin) has managed to outperform TCNJ in the circle this season.
“It’s all about communication,” Phillips said. “Last year we were all together on the draw, and we have an unspoken connection. Jill can make a certain move and I’ll just get what she’s trying to do.”
“Even if we go days without practicing,” Devlin added, “we can go out to practice and get right back to where we were.”
When the Lions are behind – rare, but it does happen – they know they’re never out of a game with their ability to play “make-it take-it”. When they’re ahead, the hill they force opponents to climb is that much steeper, because they know they’ll most likely be getting the ball right back after conceding a goal.
“We think of every draw as an individual game, and then it’s on to the next one,” said Westerby, a second-team all-region honoree.
The trio’s high success rate has a certain trickle-down effect, as well.
“Whether they feel it or not, they give the defense a lot of momentum,” Ay said. “Knowing that they’re going to win the draw helps us a lot.”
Defensively, the Lions are connected and communicative, and their collective speed and talent allows them to do things most teams don’t have the luxury to try. With Ay (the NJAC Defensive Player of the Year), Phillips, and fellow juniors Madison Wernik and Kileigh Pfluger leading the way, TCNJ is 10th in Division III in scoring defense (7.00 goals per game) and allows less than 20 shots per contest.
“We all have high lax IQ, so when we try to figure stuff out it’s a lot of bouncing ideas off each other and making the best decisions as a group,” Ay said. “We have a lot of fun down on our end; we push each other and we’re very competitive. I think that brings out the best in us.”
When opponents do manage to get free for a shot, it often ends up in the stick of Julia Charest, whose development over the course of the season has been a major factor in the success of the squad. The sophomore has been nothing short of sensational since the calendar turned to the postseason, making more saves (40) than goals allowed (35) in five NJAC and NCAA playoff games. In the process, she’s raised her save percentage to .468 on the year and ranks 7th in the nation with a 7.35 GAA.
“It was definitely a different role for me this year, being a sophomore and the older goalie with only a freshman below me,” said Charest, a first-team All-NJAC and second-team all-region selection. “I felt like I had to lead and show her the ropes and also help the defense out as much as I could. Sometimes I get in my ruts, but I have a great coaching staff and a great group in front of me. Sometimes if I don’t make the save, they make it for me.
“Knowing that the pressure is on helps a lot, because this is win or lose and the loser goes home. If I have to throw my body in front of the ball, I’ll do it time and time again.”
With all the talent on the field, there’s just as much of it roaming the sidelines. Coach Sharon Pfluger is the winningest coach in women’s lacrosse history, at any level, and is seeking her 11th national championship. Flanked by longtime assistants Robin Selbst and Bob Henderson in addition to Jackie Scullin and Jaclyn Douglas, the Lions are blessed with an all-star staff.
“I think we play a different game than a lot of teams,” Charest said. “We’re not flashy; it’s a big thing when you come here knowing that you’re playing for Coach Pfluger, you’re playing for Robin … they have so much knowledge, and they’ve been the coaches who have evolved the game. She changes the game. She picks the players that fit the game the most, and sometimes you wouldn’t think it would work but it always does.”
Should the Lions bring the Jumbos down to size on Saturday, either way a rematch would await them in the championship. Both of TCNJ’s potential title game foes – Gettysburg and Middlebury – came to Ewing in a five-day span this spring, with different results. Middlebury pulled away in the second quarter for a 13-9 victory, but TCNJ led the Bullets by a 9-0 count at halftime and mostly cruised their way to a 16-10 triumph.
“The Gettysurg game was a big turning point for us,” said Westerby. “Just because we were winning at halftime and they were a top-ranked program. It showed what we can do.”
“Especially going into that game after losing to Middlebury the week before,” LaRocca added. “We really saw, ‘wow, we just did not do our best in that game and this is the level we can play at.’ If we play like this all the time, we have a real shot at the national championship.”
Both the Bullets and Panthers have storied histories. Gettysburg is in national semifinals for the eighth time and won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018 for longtime head coach Carol Cantele, who is retiring at season’s end. The orange and blue, who carry a 40-16 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, needed overtime to escape Roanoke in the second round before downing Denison and Washington and Lee en route to the “Final Four.”
Gettysburg boasts the Centennial Conference Attacker of the Year and a first-team All-American in Jordan Basso (65G/36A) and two-time all-region attack Katie Fullowan (59G/11A), a third-team All-American, in addition to Gill Cortese, the league leader in goals-against average, between the pipes.
Middlebury, meanwhile, has played in three of the last five NCAA championships, sandwiching titles in 2016 and 2019 around a loss to Gettysburg in the 2018 final. The Panthers had won 42 consecutive games before falling to Tufts in the NESCAC final, but have steamrolled their way through three nationally ranked squads (SUNY Geneseo, Chicago, and Colby) on their way to championship weekend.
Alongside TCNJ, the Panthers are one of the most successful programs in the history of collegiate lacrosse. Middlebury’s NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.791) is the highest in Division III history, and the Panthers have reached the semifinals in 21 of the last 28 years.
Middlebury is second in the NCAA in scoring defense (5.95 GAA) behind first-team All-American defender Erica Barr and goalie Annie Enrietto, who allowed just three goals with 16 saves during regional competition. Thanks in large part to NESCAC Player of the Year Jane Earley (72G), second-team All-American Hope Shue (52G), and Lily Riseberg (22G/45A), the Panthers have already established a new program record with 334 goals this season.
“At the end of the day, it’s the final four teams,” Phillips said. “We’re all really good.”
The lacrosse team brings with it to Virginia a long legacy of success. Instead of a weight, a burden of expectation, the Lions view it as a vast support network of former players eager for the next group of successors to join them in the ranks of the immortals.
“Before the Salisbury game we got messages from past players,” LaRocca recounted, “and it was really cool because some of them were saying how they lost to teams in the regular season before going on to win the championship. Stuff like that motivates us to do it.”
“We’re winning for so many more people than just who’s on the field,” Phillips said.
An unspoken – and mostly un-thought – aspect of this championship run is that it might be just the beginning for this group. LaRocca is the team’s lone senior, and all of the squad’s juniors have extra years of eligibility from the time lost to COVID. TCNJ will run it back next year – and perhaps longer.
“I don’t think we’ve talked about it too much or looked that far into the future,” Ay said. “We all know it in the back of our head, but I don’t think we’ve put too much thought into it.”
“It’s definitely exciting because we have such a connection and it can only go up from here,” said Phillips, whose twin sister Nikki is a fellow starter. “But we’re trying to focus on now, and we have Jenny. We’re trying to hold onto that as long as we can.”
Plus, there’s a championship to win right now. And for a program – and institution – with the history of TCNJ, the time feels long overdue to add another trophy to the case.
“I think championships need to be brought back to TCNJ, period,” Charest said. “There’s been a bit of a (title) rut for all sports where we get really far and we’re really consistent but don’t quite go all the way. It’s time for a championship to come back.”
“Now that we have this opportunity,” Phillips said, “we’ve got to finish it off. If we just play our game and stay composed, I think we’ll come out on top.”
It all starts Saturday, with another rematch against the Jumbos.
“Hopefully,” LaRocca said, “the third time is the charm.”