Montclair, NJ – Junior attack Ava Fitzgerald (Merrick, NY / Calhoun) scored six times, including two during a five-goal run to open the second half as fourth-ranked The College of New Jersey handed Montclair State its first loss of the season with a 19-9 New Jersey Athletic Conference win at Sprague Field on Saturday afternoon.

Junior attack Kendal Borup (Plainsboro, NJ / West Windsor-Plainsboro South) added four goals and an assist as the Lions (12-1) took over sole possession of first place with the win. TCNJ, which is now 4-0 in the NJAC, has two league contests remaining at Richard Stockton on April 22 and at home again Kean on April 26. A win in either game would give the Lions the top seed in the conference tournament which begins on Wednesday, April 30.

Junior attack Tierney Conlon (Caldwell, NJ, Caldwell) had three goals and two assists for Montclair State (14-1) as she became the all-time leading scorer in program history. MSU, now 4-1 in the NJAC, closes out its schedule at Rutgers-Camden on Thursday, April 24. The Red Hawks have already clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed for the NJAC Tournament and will host a semifinal on April 30.

A one-goal game at the half, New Jersey scored twice in the first 64 seconds of the period to increase its lead to three. Borup scored exactly a minute in and Cortney Natalicchio (New Egypt, NJ / New Egypt) connected 54 seconds later for a 9-6 advantage. Fitzgerald would score twice a minute apart, the second coming with 23:47 to play and a goal by Erin Healy (Spring Lake Heights, NJ / Manasquan) put TCNJ up 12-6 with 21:55 remaining.

Montclair's Kelly Schoneveld (Denville, NJ, Morris Knolls) stopped the run with an unassisted goal two minutes later however Lauren Pigott (Jobstown, NJ / Northern Burlington), Borup and Jen Garavente (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) all scored in a span of 1:45 extending the Lions' lead to 15-7 with 17:54 left.

Conlon and Jenna Bussiere (Dayton, NJ, South Brunswick) helped Montclair creep back to within 15-9 with 15:11 to go but Fitzgerald and Borup countered with goals for TCNJ making the score 17-9 with 9:58 remaining.

Conlon gave MSU a 1-0 lead 48 seconds into the game as she scored unassisted. The goal was the 343^rd career point for Conlon, who also reached the 100-point mark in a season for the third consecutive year. She surpassed Cathy Homiek (2001-04) for the all-time lead in Montclair State history.

TCNJ would score the next three, including two by Fitzgerald for a 3-1 lead before Montclair responded with three straight, the last coming from Conlon whose goal with 13:54 left put the Red Hawks in front 4-3. Pigott tied the game a minute later and, after MSU went back up on a goal by Vanessa Rey (Toms River, NJ, Toms River North), put TCNJ back on top with another as New Jersey scored three times to take a 7-5 lead with 2:58 remaining. Aviana Paraggio (Sewell, NJ, Washington Township) connected with 1:13 left in the first half as Montclair closed to within 7-6 at the break.

Fitzgerald also picked up two assists while Healy, Garavente and Natalicchio each finished with two goals for the Lions. Pigott and Healy each had five draws in the game with Pigott adding seven ground balls and four caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Kelly Schlupp (Holland, PA / Council Rock South) made three saves.

Schoneveld finished with a goal and two assists for Montclair State while sophomore keeper Alexandra Tepper (Flanders, NJ, Mount Olive) stopped 12 shots.