WATERVILLE, ME – After rolling past Johnson & Wales for their first-ever NCAA tournament win last weekend, the Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team suffered its first and only loss of the season on Saturday as they fell to 14th-ranked TCNJ (The College of New Jersey), 18-4, in a third round matchup at Colby College. With the loss, WestConn wrapped up an impressive slate at 10-1 overall, which included the Little East Conference crown, while the Lions improved to 9-2 and advanced to the next round.

TCNJ jumped out to a 7-0 start through the opening ten minutes before Victoria Gracy interrupted the Lions scoring to put WestConn on the board with a free position goal at 15:16. Jillian Westerby, Erin Jaffe, Jennifer LaRocca and Anna Devlin would combine for five more over the remaining first half minutes as the Lions entered halftime with a 12-1 lead.

WestConn's offense produced some good looks to goal in the second half, as they trailed TCNJ by a much smaller gap at 6-3 over the last 30 minutes. Colleen Crotty dished out assists for two of the WestConn second half goals, and Brianna Pota put away a free position goal to end all scoring with 1:13 left on the clock.

Overall, Westerby and Jaffe combined for 10 of the 18 TCNJ goals on the day, while Lion goalkeeper Alexa Natalicchio picked up the win with four saves. Despite the loss, Anna Schipf was spectacular in net for the Colonials with 11 saves.

"It is always tough for a season to end but to have our first loss come midway through the NCAA Tournament is something to be proud of. Our future is bright and I am so proud of this team for all their hard work and everything we were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time," said WestConn head coach Meghan Els following the conclusion of her inaugural season at the helm. "Don't sleep on WestConn, we will be back and hungry to achieve even more," she added.