JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Rain, lightning and the top seed in the Atlantic Sun conference couldn't keep Jacksonville away from conference glory Saturday afternoon at Rock Stadium.
The Jacksonville Dolphins raised their 10th ASUN Women's Lacrosse Championship, defeating the top-seeded Delaware Blue Hens 16-11 Saturday afternoon. JU will advance to their 10th NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship.
The Dolphins were led by the ASUN Tournament's Most Outstanding player, junior attacker
Maeve Brennan. She tied a season-high for single-game points with seven, scoring a new career-high six goals.
She was joined on the All-Tournament team by seniors
Ainsley Scruggs,
Brookelynn Hodgin,
Maggie Cuddy and
Abby Moran.
Jacksonville led or tied for the entire game, leading from the 3:33 mark in the first quarter onward.Â
The Dolphins started fast, with junior
Julia Nicholson finding the back of the net within the first minute of play. After a Delaware tally tied it up, junior
Chloe Luther scored a strong solo effort to re-take the lead.
The Blue Hens scored to tie the game at two, then freshman
Shae Hagans put her stamp on the game. She hammered a free-position shot, then hit a crisp spin move to bury her second of the afternoon. That put JU up 4-2 after the first quarter.
Jacksonville kept its foot on the gas in the second, with Brennan feeding Nicholson then taking it herself for a score on a free-position opportunity. Delaware would score three of the next four goals, but another free-position goal from Jacksonville.Â
Brennan closed her second-quarter hat-trick with a filthy behind-the-back effort --- her third behind-the-back goal of the tournament --- to give the Dolphins an 8-5 lead into halftime.
Jacksonville opened the second half with an avalanche of momentum. Brennan scored another free-position shot, then junior
Allyx Berry put one in the net to push the lead to five. Scruggs took to earn her spot on the all-tournament team, scoring back-to-back solo goals to extend the lead to seven.
Delaware inched back with a pair of goals, but freshman
Paige Garguilo beat the defense and potted a goal right on the crease.
Scruggs completed her hat-trick to open the fourth, giving Jacksonville a seven-goal advantage with 14:25 to play in the game. The Blue Hens would chip away in the fourth, cutting the deficit down as low as four, but two more Brennan goals would be enough to see JU through to a title.
Game Notes
- Brennan hit the 80-point mark on the season, the first JU player to reach 80 points since JU's all-time leading scorer Sarah Elms hit 81 in 2023.
- Brennan has at least three points in 14-straight games.
- Cuddy corralled a season-high seven draw controls, grabbing two ground balls and caused turnover to secure a place on the All-Tournament team.
- Nine different players recorded at least one point.
- Jacksonville won the draw control battle 18-11.
Head Coach Tara Singleton
On the win
"This win, doing this celebrating at the end, this is what it was all about. No matter what seed we came in as, we came in as if we were here and up for the challenge no matter."
On closing out the game in the fourth
"Delaware's not going to get blown away, they're well coached, they're fighters, and they're tough. We knew that they weren't going away, so we really needed to fight and battle to keep our foot on the gas pedal.
On halftime adjustments
"We wanted to keep taking opportunities that we had in front of us. We know it's not going to be perfect, but we just had to trust that we'll get the ball back and put the ball in the back of the net."
Up Next
Jacksonville will await its selection in the 2026 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship. The selection show is Sunday night at 9 PM, broadcasting live on ESPNU.
