Montclair, NJ – The No. 23/14 Montclair State women's lacrosse team fell to The College of New 16-6 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Game Saturday.

The Lions (7-2) earned the NJAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins next week. The Red Hawks (8-1) will have to wait for the selection show Monday at 10:30 am to see if they have gained one of the coveted Pool C at-large bids to the tournament. The selection show can be viewed on ncaa.com.

TCNJ stormed out of the gate, putting up six goals in just under nine. Anna Devlin recorded a hat trick during the run, while Jillian Westerby had the final two tallies during the spurt. The Red Hawks snapped the Lions' seven-goal opening run as HALEY DORAN scored an unassisted tally at the 11:53 mark. The Lions took advantage of a failed Red Hawk clear two minutes later, and Devlin pumped in her fourth marker of the game.

After KATHERINE YARUSSO caused a turnover in the defensive end, the Red Hawks executed a successful clear. Off the clear, Doran found a cutting MORGAN CONNON, who beat the goalkeeper to trim the gap to six at 8-2. Doran netted her second assist of the afternoon with 2:54 left as they found Kailyn Arcede for a goal. The Lions capped off first-half scoring, with Devlin earning her fifth with 33 ticks to go.

TCNJ held a 19-6 edge in shots at the break and were a perfect 9-of-9 on clears.

The guests tallied the first two markers of the second half before RHIANNON BROWN cut into the deficit with a goal off a free position. The difference was too much to overcome, as the Lions notched the following five goals, keeping the Red Hawks off the board for nearly 23 minutes. TRISTIN KONEN finally snapped the scoreless stretch with an unassisted goal before BRITTANY COSTIGAN capped off scoring off a feed from CLARE ECKELS.

Westerby and Devlin paced the Lions with six goals each, as the duo also contributed nine draw controls, five caused turnovers, and seven ground balls. Doran recorded a goal and two assists, while Costigan corralled four draw controls. Goalkeeper ALLYN LILIEN stopped 14 saves in the setback.