InsideLacrosse.com, by Matt Kinnear (photo by Matt too)

‘A New Season’: Jacksonville Sees Growth Out of Early Struggles

Excerpt:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “This is one of our rivals,” said Jacksonville LSM Chris Darminio, after the Dolphins beat High Point, 10-9, at the Crown Lacrosse Classic.

“This is a big win. We expected it to be a dirty and tough game, and we came out with the win.”

The word our in Darminio’s first sentence is doing the heavy lifting. The 6-3 grad transfer from Lynchburg has no history with High Point like his teammates do. But when your teammates feel something, you do too.

“The guys I’ve been around, the attitude all week, I just adopted the rivalry and kind of run with it,” he said.

That says something about this Jacksonville group. The past few seasons have been much hyped, with veteran knowns, talented transfers and some big wins putting them into the Top 10. This year featured unknown pieces after a lot of graduations, and three February losses. But coach John Galloway sees a potential for growth — it’s already happening — that hasn’t existed in previous years.

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