The Jacksonville University men’s lacrosse team left no doubt this year in the ASUN Semifinals.
A year after losing to Air Force 15-12 in a semifinal game and their first-ever ASUN Tournament at home, the top-seeded Dolphins got four goals each from Bolles graduate Daylin John-Hill and Jack Russo and swamped No. 4 Mercer 18-3 on May 1 at Rock Stadium, earning a championship game berth on May 3 against Air Force (1 p.m., ESPN+).
Air Force beat Utah 13-12 in the other semifinal, the fifth consecutive victory for the Falcons in the Rocky Mountain rivalry, all decided by one goal. The Falcons won 14-13 in overtime six days ago in Salt Lake City to close the regular season.
Air Force (7-7) is 9-8 against JU (9-5) overall but the Dolphins won 16-10 in Colorado Springs on March 28 and have gone 7-3 against the Falcons since snapping a six-game losing streak in the series in 2018.
JU jumped over Mercer (6-8) for a 6-0 lead in the first period, with John-Hill scoring the first two goals and Jack Taylor the next two. Taylor (three goals, five assists) then assisted on the next two goals by John-Hill and Nicky Brown.
The Dolphins led 10-2 at halftime, 12-2 through three periods and then poured it on by outscoring the Bears 6-0 in the fourth quarter.
JU will play in its fourth conference tournament championship under coach John Galloway. The previous three ended in one-goal losses, in 2024 to Robert Morris in the ASUN (9-8), 2022 to Richmond in the Southern Conference (10-9) and 2018 to Richmond in the SoCon (11-10 in overtime).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU men’s lacrosse cruises past Mercer to earn ASUN championship berth
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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