ASUN women's lacrosse tournament: What to know as JU goes after a 10th title, NCAA berth
It hasn’t been easy for the Jacksonville University women’s lacrosse team this season.
But despite a rough start (losing four of its first five games and six of its first eight) and an anemic offense — at least in comparison to JU teams of the past — the Dolphins are in a familiar position as the ASUN regular-season champions and the No. 1 seed in this week’s ASUN tournament.
JU (8-8, 6-0) will play No. 4 Liberty (6-11, 3-3) at 1 p.m. on Thursday at Rock Stadium in one semifinal, with No. 2 Coastal Carolina (12-5, 5-1) facing No. 3 Lindenwood (13-4, 3-3) at 4 p.m. The two winners will play for the ASUN title and an NCAA tournament berth on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Dolphins are coming off a 12-11 overtime victory over Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., to cap off their ninth unbeaten ASUN season and the ninth regular-season championship. It was the second consecutive overtime victory over the Flames, going back to the ASUN title game of the 2023 season when JU won 14-13 in sudden death to top the No. 1 seeded team in coach Tara Singleton's first season.
JU is chasing its 10th NCAA tournament this week, in the fourth consecutive ASUN tournament to be played at Rock Stadium. Here’s what to know:
Jacksonville has not been a scoring machine
The Dolphins were nationally ranked and tops in the ASUN in most offensive categories last season, but Sarah Elms (69 goals) and Lauren Craft (39) graduated, and it’s been scoring by committee this season.
JU is led by graduate senior Mackenzie Boyle with 26 goals, sophomore Ainsley Scruggs with 22 and senior Brianna Samuels, who scored the game-winning goal in the championship game last year, has 19. The Dolphins are last in the ASUN with 10.5 goals per game, down from last year’s 14.1 per game.
So how in the world did the Dolphins go unbeaten in the conference?
The obvious answer was defense, starting with senior goalkeepers Addy Tysdal and senior Paige Pagano. Tysdal is second in the ASUN in giving up 10.87 goals per game and Pagano is third at 11.03. The Dolphins also aren’t making many mistakes, sitting third in the conference for the fewest turnovers with 14.88 per game.
Singleton also cited the work of defenders Kaila Stagulli, Maggie Foster, Maggie Cuddy and Abby Moran with helping give Tysdal and Pagano "a clean cage." Moran is second in the ASUN in draw controls per game (6.77) and Cuddy is sixth in turnovers caused (1.47 per game).
"It tells us our defense really is a cornerstone of who we are," Singleton said in explaining how the Dolphins have kept winning while ranked last in offense. "This group finds a way and has a lot of fight and heart."
Dolphins are living on the edge
Although JU enters the ASUN tournament on a five-game winning streak, the last three have been white-knuckle rides: the overtime victory over Liberty, 10-7 over Queens and 9-7 over Coastal Carolina.
The Dolphins and Liberty were tied six times and JU had to outscore Coastal 4-1 in the final period, with four players getting one goal each, to survive
Jacksonville played four ASUN games in which the margin was three goals or less (going 4-0). In the 2023 regular season, there was only one game that close, a 12-10 loss at Liberty.
Life on the precipice started in the conference opener against Stetson on March 28. JU entered the game with a 2-6 record and trailed the Hatters 11-5 in the second half. The Dolphins scored the final eight goals and have won five of seven games since.
"We could have folded, down six goals to Stetson," Singleton said. "It would have been easy to say, 'this isn't our season ... why do the hard stuff.' But they came back and they've continued to do the hard stuff and find a way."
Coastal Watch
The biggest ASUN rivalry in recent years has been JU vs. Liberty. The two teams have played in the last three ASUN title games and traded the No. 1 seed in the tournament in the last two seasons. But Coastal Carolina emerged this year to break up the party and grabbed the No. 2 seed.
The Chanticleers beat Liberty during the regular season 14-9 and lost to JU 9-7. Coastal has done it with good goaltending, with Charlotte Sadler and Claire Martell combining to help their team tie for the conference lead with 9.5 saves per game and second in fewest goals allowed (11.21).
Coastal, like JU, does not have a player among the top 10 in the conference in goals. But they move the ball well and are second in assists (7.18 per game) and third in goals per game (14.1). Bridgid Cadillo and Sydney McClure are third and fourth in the ASUN in assists.
Singleton was the college roommate for four years with Coastal coach Rachel Shuck Whitten.
"Rachel has them playing with this belief and this fearlessness," Singleton said. "They share the ball so well, none of them is afraid to to go the goal and they're really well-balance."
How to watch the ASUN Tournament
Both semifinal games on Thursday and the championship game on Saturday will be live-streamed on ESPN+.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU goes after 10th ASUN women's LAX title -- who's playing, how to watch
