The Jacksonville Dolphins women’s lacrosse team secured a 17-4 victory over the Rider Broncs on Saturday at Rock Stadium. The win marks the team’s first 2-0 start since 2021 and only the second time in program history they have achieved this record.
Junior Maeve Brennan led the Dolphins with five points, scoring four goals and providing one assist. Eight different players contributed to the scoring, reflecting a balanced offensive effort. Junior midfielder Allyx Berry opened the game with a goal less than a minute into play, setting an early tone for Jacksonville.
Jacksonville quickly built momentum after Rider tied the score at one, responding with four consecutive goals from Jessica Giller, Shae Hagans, Chloe Luther, and freshman Paige Garguillo. By the end of the first quarter, senior Ainsley Scruggs had extended Jacksonville’s lead to 6-2.
An eight-goal run by Jacksonville carried through most of the third quarter before Rider managed to score again. At halftime, Jacksonville held a commanding 10-2 advantage. Senior defender Maggie Cuddy scored her fourth career goal early in the third quarter. Both Hagans and Brennan completed hat-tricks during this period.
Rider briefly narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter with back-to-back goals but could not keep pace as Garguillo added two more goals for her first collegiate hat-trick. Brennan and Hagans each scored their fourth goal late in the game to secure Jacksonville’s win.
Senior draw specialist Abby Moran collected 13 draw controls—her third straight game dating back to last season with at least 12 draw controls—and Jacksonville outshot Rider 34-18.
Head coach Tara Singleton commented on her team’s performance: “I’m proud of the girls. It’s great to get wins under our belt no matter home or away. We certainly love to see a stat line that has multiple people scoring, multiple people assisting and anytime we can keep an opponent under 10, it’s a really great job by the defense, too.”
Singleton also highlighted contributions from younger players: “I’m very happy to see Paige get out there, pt [put] the ball in teh [the] back of the net. She does that frequently in practice, so it’s really nice to see her get the nod to get out there and get after it. Any opportunity that we have to get some fresh faces in there and then they do the job that they know they can do, it’s a tremendous thing.”
Looking ahead at upcoming games and areas for improvement Singleton said: “A big focus is to have multiple people who are able to score and having the stat line show that is exactly what we want to see. We need to make sure that we’re dialed in. I think we’ve had a number of shot opportunities that maybe we didn’t capitalize on, but at least we’re getting shot opportunities.
Ultimately, I’m excited about the next step in our journey. So we’re gonna celebrate this win and have a day of rest, then we’ve got a two-game week next week.”
Jacksonville will host Brown on Friday February 27 at 4 p.m., followed by Marquette on Sunday May 1 at noon as part of Lucy Strong and Youth Lacrosse weekend events at Rock Stadium; both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
