Box Score Colorado College did itself proud despite falling 14-4 to The College of New Jersey on Sunday afternoon at Lions Stadium.

The Tigers held their own for long stretches of the contest that was much more competitive than the score indicates.

CC is one of just six teams to limit the third-ranked Lions to fewer than 15 goals in a game this season. TCNJ had scored 15 or more in six of its last nine games prior to today's contest.

Colorado College also became just the fifth opponent to score four or more goals against the Lions this season. In fact, TCNJ allowed just nine in its previous five games, which included a 10-1 victory over No. 1 Salisbury University on Friday night.

The Lions scored just once during the first eight minutes, breaking the ice Alex Fitzpatrick's goal 4:37 into the game. TCNJ struck twice in a span 37 seconds to make the score 3-0, then added a pair of markers to extend its advantage to 5-0 with 17:01 remaining in the first half.

The Tigers had opportunities to keep pace with the Lions, but goaltender Miranda Chrone stopped three consecutive free-position shots to keep CC at bay.

"I really believe if we had scored on one or two of those shots, it would have settled our nerves a little bit," head coach Susan Stuart said. "TCNJ has the best defense we have seen this year."

The Colorado College defense stepped up and kept the Lions off the board for nearly 10 minutes, however the they added three goals during the final 7:20 to build an 8-0 lead after 30 minutes.

"Our defense was fantastic today," Stuart said. "TCNJ is a great team, but they had to work hard for their goals. If we continue to play that way consistently, we'll be hard to beat."

After the Lions struck for the first two goals of the second half, sophomore midfielder Avery Melville put the CC on the board with a free-position goal and struck again 36 seconds later off a feed from senior attacker Annie DeFrino.

Less than a minute later, senior attacker Steph Kelly set up a marker by sophomore attacker Allie Thuet, which made the score 10-3 and prompted TCNJ to burn a timeout.

After going more than seven minutes without a score, the Lions struck for three in a row to reclaim control of the game.

Kelly scored CC's final goal with 7:07 remaining off of a feed from sophomore attacker Eva King, only to see TCNJ close out the game with Olivia Cleale's tally with 74 seconds to play.

In addition to her goal and assist, Kelly led all players with eight draw controls. However, TCNJ recorded 12 as a team.

CC committed 30 turnovers, compared to 17 for the Lions. 

"When playing a team of TCNJ's caliber, we can not commit that many errors," Stuart said. "They will capitalize on every mistake and make you pay. We learned the hard way today about valuing each possession and need to work for more discipline and control in these high-level games."

Alena Stern stopped 12 shots for the Tigers, who slipped to 12-4. It marked the xx time this season the first-year netminder recorded double-digit saves.

The Lions launched 23 of their 35 shots in the first half. CC finished with 11 shots.

Fitzpatrick finished with three goals for TCNJ, as did Kathleen Jaeger, Kasey Donoghue.

Cleale scored a pair of goals and added four assists.

Chrone finished with five saves for the Lions, which improved to 13-2. Chrone entered the game with an NCAA record 3.69 goals-against average this season.

Colorado College travels to Georgetown, Texas, next weekend for its final two games of the regular season. The Tigers play Southwestern University and Meredith College on Friday and Saturday, respectively.