EWING, N.J. – The University of Scranton women's lacrosse team (1-2) battled for all 60 minutes, but fell short in a 12-8 loss to No. 3 TCNJ (1-0) on Wednesday afternoon at the TCNJ FH/Lax complex in Ewing.

Things were deadlocked at six apiece in the late stages of the third quarter before the Lions used a pair of goals just 1:23 apart to regain the lead for good.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair and a late goal by junior Devyn Tanajewski (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) in the waning seconds tied things at two apiece after one. TCNJ scored the next three to take a 5-2 lead, but sophomore Grace Lane (Long Beach, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) answered just 0:40 later to cut the lead to 5-3 and struck again later in the second quarter as the Royals trimmed the deficit to 6-4 at halftime.

Junior Kayleigh Stalter (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) opened the third quarter scoring with 10 minutes left and sophomore Molly McCarren (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) found the back of the net just 1:22 later to tie things at six apiece at the 8:38 mark of the period. The 6-6 score held for the next six plus minutes before TCNJ's Jillian Westerby converted on a free position attempt with 2:24 remaining in the third quarter and the Lions led 8-6 after three. In the fourth quarter, both Tanajewski and sophomore Shannon DiDominica (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) scored on free position shots but TCNJ was able to hang on for the win despite the valiant effort from Scranton.

Lane notched her third hat trick in as many games this season for the Royals, while Tanajewski tallied two goals, an assist, two draw controls and three caused turnovers on the day.

Senior Caroline Miller (Huntington, N.Y./Elwood-John H. Glenn) also added four draw controls and two caused turnovers of her own.

The Lions were led by Ally Tobler with four goals.

Scranton returns home to host No. 25 Haverford in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Weiss Field with action slated to get underway at 3 p.m.

--ROYALS--