JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Dolphins have been building their men's lacrosse program for 17 years. Head coach
John Galloway has been there for the last 10.
A generation of work has been put in to turn an upstart program onto the national stage. For all of the success on and off the field, Jacksonville had yet to win a conference championship.
Now, after years of growth and struggle, the Dolphins can call themselves champions.
The Jacksonville Dolphins (10-5, 4-1 ASUN) defeated the Air Force Falcons 16-7 Sunday afternoon at Rock Stadium. JU hoisted its first conference crown, punching a ticket to the 2026 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship.
The Dolphins were led by their veteran leaders including senior
Jack Taylor, who led the team with three goals and four assists. In the process, he broke the school's single-season record for points with 80 and counting. And junior faceoff specialist
Drew Rippeon who won 77.78% of faceoffs en route to being named ASUN Tournament MVP.
Jacksonville blitzed Air Force early in the game, taking a 9-0 lead after the first quarter. It was a cagey first five minutes, until sophomore
Daylin John-Hill scored his first of four goals, capping off a perfect defense-to-offense transition.
The Dolphins worked the ball around to find junior
William Krupsky for a wide-open, stepdown hammer from range for the second of the day. John-Hill would stay hot to score the next goal for JU, scoring his most audacious goal in a Dolphin uniform.
He received a pass and fired a quick shot from between his legs, beating the goalie and firing up the raucous Jacksonville crowd.
After John-Hill's second goal, the Dolphins ratcheted up the intensity. Taylor swept in from the righty wing, sending a shot past the Air Force net-minder. Taylor went right back to work, dancing back and forth on his defender from behind the goal before getting up field to fire an open shot into the goal.
With Rippeon dominating at the stripe, the Dolphins played make-it-take-it, rumbling down the field as Taylor spotted John-Hill for another finish on the doorstep. On a man-up opportunity following another faceoff win, senior
Nicky Brown was all alone on the high crease for a goal.
The offense was humming as Krupsky muscled a defender to the turf before launching a rocket into the corner for JU's eighth of the day. With under a minute to play in the quarter, Brown came up from behind the goal and was all alone on the crease to close out the most dominant quarter of the season for JU.
The Falcons rallied in the second behind a new goalie, keeping Jacksonville off the board and making the score 9-2 at halftime. Air Force scored first in the second half, but a 5-0 JU run would put the game to rest.
Taylor scored one then right off the faceoff he found John-Hill for another. Freshman
Zane Czeschin took the ball from up top, dodging downhill with a head of steam. It looked as if he would run out of angle, but he reached behind his back firing a shot into the far corner with a flourish.
Rippeon owned the stripe in the third, continuing to feed the offense possessions. Junior
Henry Fleckner scored after snatching a loose ball and putting it in the back of the net. Air Force was flagged on the play for a hit on Czeschin, putting JU back on the man advantage.
One Rippeon faceoff win later, the ball came to John-Hill who notched his fourth of the day, tying his season high.
Brown and Czeschin would each add a goal in the fourth quarter, putting Jacksonville up by as many as 11 goals. Two late Falcons goals wouldn't be enough to stop the sea of white surfing onto the field as the final buzzer sounded and the Dolphins were crowned champions.
Game Notes
- The full All-Tournament team featured five Dolphins: Rippeon, Taylor, John-Hill, senior defenseman Aaron Toguri and graduate student goalie Ryan Della Rocco.
- Jacksonville is the first school in the state of Florida to reach the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship.
- With the win, JU secures its fourth 10-win season in program history.
- Taylor is just three points away from becoming the third Dolphin to hit 200 points in a career, joining Jackson Intrieri and Jacob Greiner.
- Jacksonville out-shot Air Force 42-23 and 26-11 for shots on goal.
Head Coach John Galloway
On what the win means
"This is a special group of people, special players, special alumni and an unbelievable administration that believed in us and it's nice to finally prove them right."
On what allowed team to become champions
"They really took the challenge from last year and never stopped working. They challenged me. When our leadership council continued to bring me into the fold and allowed me to be a part of their journey, you could feel there was something different with this team."
On the fast start
"There were a lot of nerves in our locker room, to be able to take that first quarter and be able to establish a little bit of dominance there, it allowed everybody to take a deep breath. It's certainly not the style of performance we wanted to play in the last three quarters, but it certainly gave us a window to get comfortable and hopefully get healthy and be ready for the next round."
Up Next
The Dolphins will await their NCAA Championship first round fate, as they await the Selection Show Sunday night at 9:30 PM. The show will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
