The College of New Jersey knocked off Williams in the Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship game for the second time in three years, 14-8, in front of its home crowd May 21.

The Lions, who finished the season 17-0, won their 10th championship overall and seventh in the last 10 years. Middlebury is the only other team to have won the title since 1991. The College of New Jersey's unblemished record is its seventh in the last nine years. All but two titles have come under coach Sharon Pfluger. The Lions also have won the title all three times they have hosted. The other two years were 1991 and 1995, both under Pfluger, who also coached the field hockey team to that sport's national championship in the fall.

"I don't remember dominating as much as we did in past tournaments," Pfluger said of this year's win. "Today, we knew we had to play hard, tough and stay in our game plan in order to make it work.

"We never underestimated what Williams could do, which made us work harder the whole time."

Nobody on the field exemplified that attitude better than the Lions' Dana Latona, who had five goals and two assists in the game, increasing her tournament totals to 18 goals and 25 points, both championship records. The former eclipsed the mark of Jennifer Hart, who scored 17 goals in the 1996 tournament. Incidentally, Hart coached the Lions to the championship in 1998, when Pfluger was on sabbatical. The 25 points broke the record of 24 set by Ursinus' Beth Bingaman in 1987.

The Lions wasted no time setting the tone. Megan McCall scored 42 seconds into the game and then found the net 25 seconds later to give the Lions a 2-0 lead with 28:53 left in the first half.

Latona, who was selected as the tournament's most outstanding player, then took control, scoring four straight goals over a 10-minute span to give the Lions a 6-0 lead with 13:55 left. Williams finally ended its scoring drought when Cara Shortsleeve scored the first of her three goals with 9:04 left in the opening half. Shortsleeve's goal with 14 seconds left pulled the Ephs to within 7-2 at half time. Williams, which finished the season 14-2, could get no closer than five goals in the second half.

Joining Latona on the all-tournament team were teammates Meghan McCall, Sharon Vitulli, Tiffany Trockenbrod, and Emily Fellona. Williams was represented by Shortsleeve, Sarah Commito and Megan Cleary. Rounding out the team were Lisa LeBeau and Carolyn Murray of Salisbury State, and Jessa Martin and Kathryn Rodermer of Middlebury.

SEMIFINALS

Col. of New Jersey scoring -- Tara Prindible 5, Valerie Cherill 4, Dana Latona 4, Janae Durkin 3, Megan McCall 2, Lou Eckrich 1.

Salisbury St. scoring -- Jen Mezzedra 2, Annie Sappington 1, Carolyn Murray 1.

Shots: Col. of New Jersey 49, Salisbury St. 32. Goalkeeper saves: Col. of New Jersey -- Sharon Vitulli 11; Salisbury St. -- Lisa LeBeau 13.

Middlebury scoring -- Katherine Rodormer 2, Betsy Wheeler 2, Jessa Martin 1, Dana Chapin 1, Char Glessner 1, Katie Perine 1.

Williams scoring -- Cara Shortsleeve 3, Robin Severud 3, Heather Black 1, Meghan Cleary 1, Sam Daigneault 1, Kathryn Doherty 1, Caitlin Ritchie 1.

Shots: Williams 20, Middlebury 27. Goalkeeper saves: Williams -- Abigail Jackson 10; M -- Kate Robertson 5.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Col. of New Jersey scoring -- Dana Latona 5, Megan McCall 4, Tiffany Trockenbrod 2, Janae Durkin 1, Tara Prindible 1, Emily Fellona 1.

Williams scoring -- Caitlin Ritchie 4, Cara Shortsleeve 3, Meghan Cleary 1.

Shots: Col. of New Jersey 26, Williams 15. Goalkeeper saves: Col. of New Jersey -- Sharon Vitulli 1; Williams -- Abigail Jackson 13.