KENNESAW, Ga. - Jacksonville University women's lacrosse (11-1, 3-0) punched their ticket to NCAA tournament after defeating Liberty University (10-9, 2-1) 13 - 8. This marks the Dolphins fourth-straight ASUN Championship and seventh bid to the NCAA tournament in program history. The matchup between the two teams is also the second straight year the Dolphins have defeated the Flames in the ASUN conference tournament championship.
"Liberty brought a real high octane type of game, they were pushing the tempo and really great at keeping momentum," head coach Mindy McCord said. "This victory means so much because going to the NCAA tournament is what we have been working all year for, especially with the devastation of last year being canceled."
Liberty found the net first to take a quick 1-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game. However, the Flames lead did not last long as Sarah Elms found the net to tie the game. This triggered a back-and-fourth affair as Elms found the net once again, but the Flames picked up another goal to tie the game at two.
At the 23:07 mark Jenny Kinsey broke the tie to put the Dolphins ahead for the second time, making the score 3-2. From there, Elms became unstoppable on offense, scoring the next four goals for JU over the next 11 minutes of action. Liberty responded with two more goals in the final minutes to close out the period, to make it 7-4 going int halftime.
Similar to the first half, Liberty started strong by scoring a pair of goals to cut JU's lead to one. The Dolphins offense refused to let the Flames gain momentum as Megan Prescott and Molly Brock each put one in the net to make the score 9-6.
Liberty continued to press the Dolphins defense in order to score. A free-position shot by the Flames changed the score to 9-7, to make it a close game. Showing up for the Dolphins, Mackenzie Boyle answered with a goal at the 13:11 mark to get JU to double digits, 10-7.
As the clock began to wind down, Kinsey went on a scoring run. She scored the Dolphins next four goals to earn her seventh hat trick of the season and make the score 13-7. The Flames would score one more time on a free-position goal, but it was not enough to push the game into extra time.
The Dolphins offense was led by Elms who contributed six goals making this her 11th hat-trick of the season and sixth game with five or more goals. Overall, she contributed 12 total goals in the ASUN tournament.
Other stellar performances include Brock, who collected six draw controls, while Prescott captured two. Lauren Phillips led the team in caused turnovers and ground balls with four for each. Caroline Peterson was behind Phillips with two ground balls.
The defense proved to be strong as JU held the Flames to a .680 clearing percentage while causing 14 turnovers and picking up 22 ground balls. Addy Tysdal and Dayna Martinetto split time in goal and recorded four saves each.
"The defense really followed the game plan and really executed a high level of performance," McCord said.
In addition to the win, five Dolphins garnered ASUN conference tournament honors. Brock, Kinsey, Peterson and Phillips were selected to the All-Tournament team, while Elms was named tournament MVP.
Up next, the Dolphins will learn their first round opponent during the NCAA selection show. The selection show is set for 9:00 p.m. Sunday, May 9 and can be found on ncaa.com.
