JU Men Hold off Late Mercer Rally 8-7 for 4th Straight Win
Cardinal Mooney alum Christian Laureano with 2G/1A
MACON, Ga. — Another hard-fought battle ended with an 8-7 win for the Jacksonville University men’s lacrosse team over Mercer at Five Star Stadium. It was the fourth straight game the Dolphins held their opponent to single-digits and the sixth in eight games.
The Numbers
Nicky Brown led the team in multiple categories, logging three assists and five points, a team-high in both, scoring two goals in the game to tie a pair of Dolphins for the team-high. Ethan LaMond and Jackson Intrieri added two goals each as the Dolphins leaned on the trio for much of the offensive production.
Jacob Greiner and Marshall McGuire finished with one goal and one assist, joining Brown amongst the group with both a goal and an assist in the game.
Nathan Kapp and Aaron Toguri led the team in ground balls, with Kapp picking up six and Toguri earning four. Ryan Della Rocco finished with 12 saves and just seven goals allowed in an all-around team effort.
How It Happened
Intrieri kicked off the scoring with the first of his two goals at the 10:05 mark of the first quarter. Mercer would answer with one, but LaMond (06:52) would retake the lead for JU before Nicky Brown got rolling with one at the 4:39 mark and another with 14:04 left in the second.
Brown’s goal would be the only scoring for much of the quarter as Anthony Caputo added to the lead with 31 seconds remaining to give the Dolphins a 5-1 lead at the halftime break.
The Bears would begin to wake up in the second half, cutting the lead to 5-3 before Intrieri and McGuire pushed the lead back to four. Three straight for Mercer would push them within striking distance. LaMond would quiet the run and earn back the momentum with his goal at the 3:08 mark of the final quarter.
One more from Mercer would intensify the final minute of the game as Della Rocco came up with two key saves in the final moments to seal the victory
Head Coach John Galloway
“I am proud of the character win today for our group. Defensively, we had to dig in from nine penalties, and our guys never flinched. Ryan (Della Rocco) had another big week in goal, and the guys in front of him stepped up to make it very hard for Mercer to get quality looks on cage.
This game taught us a lot about opportunities for growth moving forward, and we will take advantage of those lessons on a quick turnaround this week.”
