In a battle for first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), the 10-4 TCNJ Lions took on the 6-9 Rowan Profs, on Wednesday, April 24. The game proved to be as advertised and more, with both teams battling well into the fourth. However, TCNJ would prevail by a score of 15-11 and as a result, earned the number one seed and home field throughout the NJAC playoffs.
This game was a tale of two halves for the Profs.
It was all Rowan throughout the first half, as they asserted their dominance early with nine goals to the Lions’ six. Sophomore Trish Gillen was a huge part of the offensive explosion in the first, facilitating the ball around as if she were a point guard in the NBA. She added a career-high four assists to her already team-leading 24.
“Since I’m a low attacker I can see everything going on, and I just direct where my teammates go and give them the right passes to success,” Gillen said.
Molly Green’s production was unprecedented once again today, scoring four goals and essentially putting the team on her back when they needed her most.
“They held me scoreless in both games last year, so I just wanted to make sure that those were the only two games that I didn’t show up offensively. I really just wanted to make sure that I was doing my part to potentially get us a win today,” Green said.
With the game being a tale of two halves, they really leaned on Green and the offense for the most part in the second half, seeing that the defense began to show its tail, which is what led to TCNJ’s comeback.
“I don’t think our defense played well as a whole,” head coach Lindsay Delaney said. “But I do think that we capitalized on the mistakes they were making… our defense was the cause of the slip. Very individualized, didn’t work collectively, no slide help. It was too easy for them to score.”
During the third quarter, which happens to be the nightmare-ish quarter for the Profs this season, Rowan let the lead slip, getting outscored 5-1 in the quarter and 9-2 as a whole in the second half.
With only one game left in the season for the young lacrosse team, the Profs’ chances of clinching the number one seed in the conference have evaporated. Now, they are clinging on to the hope that they can still capture the two-seed with a win on Saturday, April 27 in Montclair against Montclair State.
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