JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University men's lacrosse team (0-1) suffered some heartbreak to begin the 2020 campaign by way of a late comeback from Detroit Mercy (1-0), 15-14.
"Today was a testament to the fact that you can never be comfortable in the new age of college lacrosse. The roller coaster of streaks in today's game is what makes our sport fun, and ultimately the team with the most emotional maturity and discipline usually comes out on top," noted head coach
John Galloway following the game. "I'm so proud of how our guys played. Unfortunately, I have not done a good enough job holding guys accountable when we get undisciplined. I have seen this team do some special things, but we need to see how willing we can be to commit to the discipline and fundamentals when we are under the lights. I thought
Hunter Sells was fantastic in net for us, and the trio of
Jack Dolan,
Evan Tyler, and
Jeremy Winston showed signs of elite play making. With that said, we need everyone to believe in their role for us come out with a win on game day. The message will be simple this week: be 1/45th. No more and no less. I'm excited for this group and ready to go back to work tomorrow with them."
The Dolphins got their biggest boost from
Jeremy Winston who converted four goals in his season debut, two of which came in the first quarter as the Dolphins jumped ahead to a 5-0 lead in less than 10 minutes.
Brendan McKenna and
Evan Tyler each added a pair of scores but Tyler handed out a team-high four assists along with teammate
Jack Dolan who handed out four as well. Six other Dolphins added a single goal and as a team, JU assisted on 10 of its 14 scores.
This was a game of runs on this chilly northeast Florida afternoon. After jumping out to that 5-0 lead, the Dolphin surrendered three-straight to allow Detroit back in it. Sophomore
Griffin Corbett halted that run with the first goal of his career at the 1:40 mark in the first, allowing his team to hold a 6-3 advantage after one.
Detroit scored first in the second quarter before each side traded a pair of goals to make this an 8-6 game with 4:55 to play in the half. Winston added his third goal of the game with 4:16 to go and Tyler converted one of his to close out the half with JU on top, 10-7.
The third period was all Detroit. The Titans scored four-straight and held JU scoreless to take an 11-10 lead into the fourth quarter. The Dolphins came out hot to start the fourth sparked by the first score in the career of
Jacob Greiner. Goals from
Brett Reilly, Winston's fourth, and McKenna's second gave the Dolphins a 14-11 lead with 9:24 left, forcing Detroit to take a timeout and regroup.
The adjustment made in that timeout proved dangerous as the Titans scored three times in the span of three-and-a-half minutes to knot the game at 14 with 5:04 left. Some back and forth ensued as both sides attempted to find that game-winning chance. Detroit was the team to break through at the 1:46 mark with a goal on a broken play.
Jacksonville did find itself in a man-up opportunity as the clock dipped below one-minute to play but weren't able to convert and had to settle for the disappointing result in the season-opener. There is an opportunity to bounce back in one week when the Dolphins square up with Vermont (Feb. 8) at home.
