Dousing the Flames again: Lauren Ellis goal with five seconds left lifts JU in ASUN semis

The Jacksonville University women’s lacrosse team continued its mastery over Liberty and gave itself a chance to stretch its record of dominance in the ASUN championships to double-digit championships.

Graduate students Mackenzie Boyle and Lauren Ellis completed a textbook play from behind the Flames net with five seconds left and the Dolphins beat Liberty 10-9 on Thursday at Rock Stadium to advance to the championship game of the ASUN tournament for the seventh completed season in a row and the 10th time overall.

Ellis took a pass from Boyle, who was behind the Liberty net, and drilled the game-winning goal to complete a comeback from a 9-6 deficit in the final 8:16 to beat the Flames by one goal for the third time in a row and run JU’s all-time record against Liberty to 13-1.

Who will the Dolphins play in the title game?

Top-seeded JU (9-8) will play No. 2 seed Coastal Carolina (13-5), which beat No. 3 Lindenwood 13-11 in the other semifinal game. The championship will be 1 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+.

The Chanticleers led 13-6 entering the fourth quarter and were outscored 5-0 by Lindenwood (13-5), including three short-handed goals. Logann Eldridge scored two of her game-high four goals during that span.

Bridgid Cardillo had three goals and two assists and Sydney McClure had two goals and three assists for Coastal.

The championship game will be the fourth meeting in two years between two coaches who were teammates at Loyola-Baltimore for four years, Tara Singleton of JU and Rachel Shuck Whitten of Coastal Carolina. The Dolphins are 11-2 overall against the Chanticleers and have won the last five meetings.

Singleton is 3-0 against her former teammate. JU beat Coastal 9-7 earlier this season at home and won 17-5 in the semifinals of last year's ASUN tournament and 13-7 during the regular season.

JU won another tight game vs. the Flames

The Dolphins beat Liberty 14-13 in overtime in last year’s ASUN championship and edged the Flames 12-11 last week to close the regular season. Their last four games have been decided by two goals or less, with JU going 3-1.

After Thursday's game was tied six times, Liberty ran off four in a row, capped by Taiva Reinertson’s goal off an Aja Rajala assist to give the Flames (6-12) a 9-6 lead with 10:38 remaining in the game.

Before that, the game had been tied six times.

How did JU rally over Liberty?

The Dolphins rallied to tie the game on goals by freshman Julia Nicholson (assisted by sophomore Ainsley Scruggs) with 8:16 left, by Boyle (assisted by graduate senior Hudson Gentile) just 62 seconds later, and then by senior LaRen Blakesly (unassisted) with 3:00 left.

Liberty got one shot on goal after that, by Jordan Sheive, but it was deflected by Dolphins graduate senior keeper Addy Tysdal, her eighth of the game.

JU’s winning play began at the top of the circle when freshman Maddie Herman passed the ball to Scruggs on the right side. Scruggs hit Boyle behind the cage and Boyle found Ellis with the pass, who came running unchecked from the top of the circle. Boyle squeezed the shot past Liberty keeper Mara Tellers.

Sophomore Abby Moran of the Dolphins won the final draw control to run out the clock.

Gentile had two goals for JU and eight players had one each as the Dolphins once again displayed a balanced offense.

How can you watch JU in the ASUN championship game?

The title game at Rock Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m will be live-streamed on ESPN+.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Lauren Ellis scores with five seconds left to lift JU to ASUN title game