{"id":8179,"date":"2013-09-09T09:08:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T13:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8179"},"modified":"2016-02-09T09:42:49","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T14:42:49","slug":"greatest-moments-in-lions-sports-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8179","title":{"rendered":"Greatest Moments in Lions Sports History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"1929-earl-dean\"<\/a>
1929<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dean tells players, \u2019Act like a lion\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

1929<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>During halftime of a basketball game in which his squad was trailing, Coach Earl Dean<\/b> instructed his troops to \u201cGet out there, act like a lion, and win the game!\u201d They did, and when the next day\u2019s Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser<\/i> dubbed the College\u2019s team \u201cLions,\u201d the nickname stuck\u2014and a mascot was born.<\/p>\n

Football\u2019s first win in over a decade<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 10, 1949<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lions\u2019 7-6 victory over Montclair was national news,<\/a> ending what was then the longest winless streak in collegiate football history: a 0-40-3 run that included a stretch of 28 consecutive losses.<\/p>\n

\"64<\/a>
1964<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Men\u2019s soccer nets State\u2019s first national title<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 28, 1964<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lions\u2019 3-0 win over Lincoln University in the NAIA championship wasn\u2019t just TSC\u2019s first national championship\u2014it was also the first time a New Jersey state college won a national title in any sport.<\/p>\n

Van Ness takes the reigns as AD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fall 1964<\/em><\/p>\n

No individual had more of an impact on Lions sports than Roy Van Ness \u201943<\/b>. The eight-time letter-winner and coach was named full-time athletic director in 1964 and, and over the next 23 years, he transformed the school into the Division III powerhouse that it remains to this day. Lions teams won 13 national titles and had 10 runner-up finishes during his tenure, and it was largely because of his vision and efforts that the College constructed the state-of-the-art athletics facilities (Lions\u2019 Stadium and the Aquatic Center, to name just two) that became the envy of other D-III schools.<\/p>\n

\"1981<\/a>
1981<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Martucci wins D-I title<\/strong><\/p>\n

March 14, 1981<\/em><\/p>\n

Two weeks after winning wrestling\u2019s D-III national title at 190 pounds, Tom Martucci \u201981<\/b> defeated Temple\u2019s Tony Mantella, 4-3, becoming just the second D-III wrestler in history to win the D-I and D-III crowns in the same year.<\/p>\n

\"GregGrantJumper\"<\/a>
1988<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grant drops 52 on Wilmington<\/strong><\/p>\n

January 18, 1988<\/em><\/p>\n

When future NBAer Greg Grant \u201989<\/b> s<\/a>cored 52 points against Wilmington College, he broke his own record of 51, set the previous year against Montclair State. Those efforts remain numbers one and two for single-game scoring in the Lions\u2019 record books.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Women\u2019s soccer\u2019s sudden-death thriller<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 13, 1994<\/em><\/p>\n

After scoring with 9:24 left in regulation to tie the match, Kerri Schembari \u201996<\/b> again found the back of the net at the 124-minute mark to give the women\u2019s soccer team its second straight NCAA championship, a 4-3 triple-overtime win against UC\u2013San Diego.<\/p>\n

\"95<\/a>
1995<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lacrosse’s come-from-behind title win<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 21, 1995<\/em><\/p>\n

Trailing William Smith College by three with seven minutes to play in the 1995 NCAA title game, the Lions got back-to-back-to-back goals from Jennifer Hart \u201996<\/b> to tie it up. Then with just 1:59 remaining, Melanie Vasofski \u201997<\/b> found the back of the net to give the program its fifth straight national championship.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sports Illustrated for Women\u2019 names TCNJ top college for D-III female athletes<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sports<\/a>
1999<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fall 1999<\/em><\/p>\n

The magazine\u2019s editors based their picks not just on championships won (although with 27 women\u2019s team titles at the time, the College was tops in that respect<\/a>) but also graduation rates, financial aid opportunities, fan support, facilities, and athletic traditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tiffany<\/a>
2005<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clark\u2019s three national titles in one day<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 28, 2005<\/em><\/p>\n

On the final day of the 2005 NCAA Track and Field Championships, Tiffany Clark \u201906<\/b> was a part of two national team championships (in 4×100 relay and 4×400 relay) and won the individual title in the 400-meter dash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Haran\u2019s walk-off grand slam <\/strong><\/p>\n

May 7, 2006<\/em><\/p>\n

With one out and his team trailing Montclair 9-7 in the bottom of the ninth of the NJAC championship game, catcher Gerard Haran \u201907<\/b> knocked the first pitch he saw over the centerfield fence for a walk-off grand slam that gave the Lions the conference title and a spot in the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

Roskos\u2019\u00a0three-peat<\/strong><\/p>\n

March 22, 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

Danica Roskos \u201913 <\/b>became the first <\/a>D-III female diver in history<\/a> to capture three consecutive national titles in the same event when she won this year\u2019s 1-meter crown.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Dean to Danica, these are the milestone moments that current and former coaches, players, and fans picked as the greatest in Lions\u2019 sports history. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2013","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}