ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley senior defender Hana Neff scored the first two goals of her career as the women's lacrosse team put up a strong battle against 10th-ranked The College of New Jersey on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Arnold Field. The visiting Lions won the game 16-3 outscoring the Dutchmen 6-0 in the second half.
 
Erin Zieber won the opening draw control and Neff put the Dutchmen up 1-0 a little over a minute into the game as Emily Beard found her streaking across the middle. Riley Finnegan won the next draw to keep the pressure on the ranked TCNJ squad. The teams traded shots on goal before the Lions were able to tie the game up at one with 12:13 on the clock. TCNJ found the back of the net a little under a minute later to take the lead. LVC's defense stepped up and held the Lions to just one shot on goal over the next three minutes to keep it a one-goal game. The Lions, however, managed to score three times over the last eight minutes of the quarter to take a 5-1 lead.
 
The lead expanded to 7-1 after the first five minutes of the second quarter as the Lions scored twice in a span of 35 seconds. The Dutchmen came roaring back as Alyssa Wene converted a free position shot for a goal with eight minutes to go in the half. LVC then took advantage of two cards by the Lions with a woman-up goal by Neff off an assist by Anna Lougee with 4:44 remaining to cut the lead to 7-3 and force TCNJ to call a timeout. The Lions came out of the timeout and scored three times in the final two minutes of the half to take a 10-3 advantage.
 
TCNJ came out of the halftime break and scored twice in the first minute to increase the lead to 12-3. The Lions added a free position goal with just under 10 minutes to play in the quarter to make it a 10-goal advantage. The Dutchmen played strong defensively the rest of the quarter and kept the Lions off the board. Beard and Molly Whisler had good looks at goal offensively for the Dutchmen, but their shots were saved.
 
The strong defensive play continued throughout the beginning of the fourth quarter as LVC held TCNJ from scoring until a free position goal with 6:43 to go. The Lions then added two more goals including a free position shot with five seconds left to set the final.
 
Inside the Box

• Neff scored two goals on three shots. The senior caused a turnover and had two ground balls.
• Wene scored her ninth goal of the season and 25th of her career. The junior took four shots and caused a turnover.
• Beard and Lougee had an assist each. Beard also won two draw controls.
• Finnegan won a team-high five draw controls and caused two turnovers.
• The Dutchmen were 17-20 on clear attempts.

Up Next
LVC will be off during the week and will return to action next Saturday with a 12 p.m. start against Vassar College on Arnold Field.

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