JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mercer was unable to rally from an early first-half deficit and fell to Jacksonville, 22-7, in the 2019 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship play-in match on Tuesday afternoon at D.B. Milne Field.
The loss eliminated Mercer (10-10) from the NCAA Tournament. Jacksonville (17-3) advances to face No. 8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday. Eva Thorn scored two of the Bears' three first-half goals and Kendall Garrett added one goal and one assist over the first 30 minutes.
Jacksonville opened the match with an eight-goal run and did not look back. The Bears called a timeout with 27 minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the first half following the Dolphins' first five goals. Thorn scored both of her goals in a one-minute span to cut Mercer's deficit to six. Garrett notched an unassisted goal two minutes later at the 17:53 mark of the first half to make it a 9-3 contest.
The Dolphins forced a running clock on a goal by Molly Brock with 16:20 remaining in the first half as they extended their advantage to 13-3. Mercer trailed 16-3 at the halftime intermission.
Kelly Hagerty (two), Hailey Rhatigan and Caroline Kerr notched four unassisted goals in the second half while Jacksonville padded its lead with six more goals.
NOTABLES
» Mercer is 0-2 all-time in NCAA Championship contests.
» The Bears fell to 0-6 all-time against Jacksonville.
» Rhatigan and Hagerty finished with 64 and 54 goals on the season. Those two season figures rank as the first and third most goals by a Mercer player in a single season.
» Eva Thorn's two goals gave her 35 for the season.
» Kendall Garrett tallied her 19th goal and 13th assist of the season. She finished with 32 points.
» Mercer went 10-of-17 on clear attempts.
» Four Bears tallied two ground balls apiece.
» Iseabal Cryne and Dylan Malamala both saw time between the pipes, recording eight total saves.
