Elon Women’s Lacrosse Suffers Setback on Road at Jacksonville

JACKSONVILE, Fla. – Elon women’s lacrosse team faced some struggles in its final regular season game of the season as the Phoenix fell to Jacksonville, 17-4, today, April 27. The win gave the Dolphins the Atlantic Sun regular season title for the second straight year with a 5-0 record in the conference (12-5 overall), while Elon falls to 8-8 on the season and 4-1 in league play.

Elon picked up 17 ground balls and won nine draws in the game with Sydney Hesselbein, Molly Garrigan and Kelli Stack each claiming two draws. The Phoenix struggled to get past the Dolphin defense, going 6-of-14 in clear attempts and had 18 turnovers.

Hesselbein scored two goals for the Phoenix, while Olivia Fernandez and Garrigan both netted a scores for the maroon and gold. Rachel Ramirez recorded 10 saves in the game on 27 shots on goal by the Dolphins.

Both defenses looked strong during the first part of the first half with Jacksonville scoring the only goal prior to the 12:20 mark. The Dolphins then managed seven straight goals to take an 8-0 lead with under six minutes remaining in the half.

Hesselbein got the Phoenix on the board with a score at the 4:31 mark to put the maroon and gold within seven. Jacksonville closed out the half with two goals to take a 10-1 advantage at the break.

After a JU score to open the second frame, Hesselbein netted her second goal of the day with 21:20 on the clock to make it an 11-2 game. With the Dolphins leading 12-2, Fernandez scored on a free-position shot at the 17:03 mark to pull the Phoenix within nine, 12-3.

Garrigan netted another free-position goal for the Phoenix with 1:50 remaining before JU closed out the game on two more scores.

In the game, JU outshot Elon, 38-14, and claimed 29 ground balls. The Dolphins went 5-of-7 in clear attempts and won 14 draws. Asia Moore claimed the win between the pipes with four saves on eight shots on goal for the Phoenix.

Elon has clinched the second seed in next weekend’s A-Sun championship and will play three-seeded Detroit at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2, in Jacksonville.

Elon (8-8, 4-1 A-Sun) vs. Jacksonville (12-5, 5-0 A-Sun)
Date: Apr 27, 2014
Attendance: 219
Weather:

Elon SCORING: GOALS: Hesselbein, Sydney 2; Garrigan, Molly 1; Fernandez, Olivia 1.
ASSISTS: None.

Jacksonville SCORING: GOALS: VENTIMIGLIA, Holly 4; ORASHEN, Brittney 3; WORCESTER, Jess 2; MCCORD, Taylor 2; HOLBERT, Sally 2; DELLAROCCA, Danielle 1; STEWART, Kaitlin 1; WILCOX, Hannah 1; AUS, Rachel 1.
ASSISTS: WIGLESWORTH, Kelsey 2; DERNER, Morgan 1; HOFFMAN, Ali 1; PURDY, Kristin 1.