Skip to main content
Jacksonville's Morgan Derner

JU’s Derner back with a vengeance in win over Louisville

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
Jacksonville's Morgan Derner
Jacksonville's Morgan Derner
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville’s Morgan Derner is making up for lost time and doing that with a vengeance. Derner scored five goals Saturday to help lead the Dolphins (5-1) to a 20-10 win over Louisville at D.B. Milne Field extending the team’s home win streak to an even dozen. The Lake Mary, Fla., attacker, who led the nation’s freshmen in scoring last year, came back from a knee injury only three games ago and after being shut out in her debut against Temple, has poured in eight in the last two games. Against the Cardinals (2-5) Derner had help from several teammates including a quartet of sophomores: Ali Hoffman (three goals), Amanda Hurley, Brittney Orashen and Jen Cosgrove (all of whom had two). JU’s Kaitlin Stewart also scored which extended her school-record goal scoring streak to 12 games. Also hitting the nets were Holly Ventimiglia, Kayleigh Hynes, Jess Worcester, Abi Warnken and Rachael Krell. Junior Rachel Hannon led the way defensively and picked a trio of ground balls and had three draw controls. Midfielder Chelsea Watts had two draw controls. The Dolphins drew first blood when Hoffman scored just 30 second into the game. After Louisville tied at one, JU ran off nine consecutive scores putting the Cards in a hole from which they wouldn’t escape. In the second half, JU had spurts of three and four consecutive goals keeping Louisville at bay. “We really wanted to push the tempo and it’s a big win for us,” Derner said. “The team found me, made space for me and made me look better than I really did.” She said her knee feels fine with no pain and she continues to work on getting her wind back. “She has speed and athleticism,” coach Mindy McCord said. “She’s very strong on the ride because of her speed and that creates a lot of fast break opportunities we can utilize.” McCord said the key to victory was the team executed five areas of the game quite well. “What we know about our team is that if they can put together the five parts of the game, the draw, the defensive transition, the pack transition, the defensive settled and the attack settled – you can win with maybe playing three of them, but if you play five of them well you have a shot at dominating. The players put all five of those areas into their hands and executed well.” The Dolphins play nationally ranked Cornell Tuesday at home at noon.
VIDEO EXTRA: Hear it from Morgan Derner in her own words:

Sponsored