The College of New Jersey women’s soccer team will be leaning on depth and leadership as it begins conference play. No. 10 TCNJ is 7-0-2 and 1-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference after a 2-1 win over Kean on Saturday. Next up is a trip to Stockton (5-2-2, 0-0-1 NJAC) on Wednesday with a 5 p.m. start time. As the defending NJAC champions, the Lions know the importance of winning the regular season to secure home field advantage in the conference playoffs. “The practical importance of winning the NJAC regular season is that it sets you up with homefield advantage for the NJAC Tournament,’’ said TCNJ coach Danny Blank. “The winner of that gets the automatic bid for the NCAA national tournament.’’ The Lions have been solid on both ends of the field. Offensively they won five straight before tying No. 11 Johns Hopkins and Stevens, and they got back on track with wins over Susquehanna and Kean. The Lions have developed a plethora of depth throughout the first segment of the season with 15 freshmen and nine seniors. “Our freshmen class is universally adored by the returners,’’ Blank stated. “We brought in a bunch of very good players who are talented, who work hard to pull their weight, and have been wonderful teammates.’’ It has all added to a great start for the Lions and a lot of options for Blank. “We can go deep into our bench and not only is there almost no drop-off, but there are players who have different strengths than the player they’re replacing,’’ stated Blank. “It’s got to be tough for an opposing defender to see three or four different wingers, all of them are good, and all of them have a different skill set. We’ve also proven that we can overcome a deficit. We’ve trailed three times and come back twice to win and once to tie.’’ Senior Victoria D’Imperio, who played at Northern Burlington, leads the team with four goals. Her play last week earned her the NJAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. She scored in both TCNJ wins last week, breaking a scoreless deadlock early in the second half of an eventual 4-0 victory over Susquehanna and then netting the tying goal late in the first half of Saturday’s 2-1 NJAC win over Kean. D’Imperio is now sixth in program history with 41 career goals. Her 92 points are good for a tie for ninth all-time. There has been plenty of help for D’Imperio as senior Ava Curtis has three goals and sophomore Alyssa Alfano has a conference-best six assists. The defense, led by freshman goaltender Ellen Williams with a 0.45 goals against average, has allowed just four goals on the season. Realizing the Lions have been a premier Division III program for many years and the game most opponents circle on the schedule, Blank likes to guard against contentment. “I constantly remind the players that we are the game of the year for every single team on our schedule,’’ Blank said. “We don’t get anyone’s second-best game. We have to play in a way that shows that the game means more to us than it does to them.’’ After Stockton the Lions will host Montclair State (2-3-5, 0-0-1 NJAC) on Saturday. TCNJ last reached the national title game in 2021. This year’s seniors were contributing as freshmen that year and now are hoping to lead the way back. “Our seniors are the last connection we have to the 2021 team that made the national final,’’ said Blank. “They have a right and a duty to hold all of us to a very high standard. With such a large rookie class, they really have a lot to manage, but they’ve handled everything really well. It helps that they are all just really good people with kind hearts.’’ The conference is very tough this fall as only two of 10 teams have losing records as conference play begins. Three teams — TCNJ, Rowan and New Jersey City — came out of the non-conference schedule undefeated. “Staying healthy is important, but also, getting our younger players more game experience is important in case we do run into injury and illness issues,’’ said Blank. “After that, it’s ironing out the details in terms of how we attack as a group and defend as a group.’’ A group that has great depth and solid leadership.