Mercer Suffers 16-6 Setback to Jacksonville

Sunday, March 21

Macon, Ga.

2:00 PM

Mercer University

2-5

Jacksonville

4-3

Jacksonville

MER

Photo by: UNC Athletics

3/21/2021 6:42:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

The Bears dropped their SoCon opener.

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears dropped their Southern Conference opener to the Jacksonville Dolphins, 16-6, on Sunday afternoon in Five Star Stadium.

Sean Goldsmith led Mercer with a pair goals, while four others – Will McCarthy, Khory Reid, Taylor Dooley and Michael O'Brien – each added one goal. Jacksonville's Jack Dolan led all goal scorers with five goals. Jacob Greiner and Matt Stagnitta each scored three times for the Dolphins, and Evan Tyler added a pair of scores for the victors. Mercer's Colin Kelley was solid in goal with a career-best 19 saves.

Jacksonville (4-3, 1-0 SoCon) scored the game's first goal 6:05 into the contest and added two more goals before Dooley scored off a pass from Goldsmith to get Mercer on the board with 5:41 remaining in the opening quarter. The Dolphins answered Dooley with three consecutive goals to end the period and held a 6-1 lead after 15 minutes.

The Dolphins extended their streak of unanswered goals to six with three goals in the first 7:20 of the second quarter. McCarthy ended Jacksonville's run with an unassisted score with 7:16 remaining until the intermission. The Bears were unable to capitalize on McCarthy's goal as both of team's final two shots of the half – one by Matthew Winegardner and one by Michael Quinn – were saved. Jacksonville added a goal with four ticks of the clock left to take a 10-2 lead to the locker room.

Mercer's (2-5, 0-1 SoCon) Collin Kelley made four straight stops between the pipes before Jacksonville scored its 11^th goal of the afternoon prior to the nine-minute mark of the third quarter. Goldsmith, who appeared in his first game of the 2021 season, answered 96 seconds later to make it an 11-3 contest. The Dolphins' Greiner scored the final goal of the quarter, and after 45 minutes, the visitors held a 12-3 lead.

The Bears struggled to contain the Dolphins over the first 3:47 of the final quarter, as three straight Jacksonville goals gave them a 12-goal advantage, 15-3, before Reid stopped the run with a conversion following a Jacksonville turnover. The Dolphins' 16^th and final goal came with 10:06 on the clock, but the scoring was not complete as Mercer's O'Brien and Goldsmith each found the back of the net. O'Brien scored off a pass from Ryan Katchen with 7:08 remaining, and Goldsmith's second goal of the day came after a failed Jacksonville clear attempt. Dooley found Goldsmith with eight seconds left, and he converted, but Mercer dropped its first Southern Conference game of the season, 16-6.

NOTABLES

Kelley made a career-high 19 saves. He has made 83 stops through seven contests in 2021.
The sophomore goalkeeper has made at least 10 saves in each of the past five games.
Kelley needs six saves to pass Josh Tarver (142 stops) for fourth all-time in program history.
Goldsmith scored his first two goals of the 2021 campaign.
Goldsmith has scored 60 times in a Mercer uniform. He is 16 goals away from third all-time in program history.
Goldsmith passed his teammate Quinn for the seventh-most points in Mercer men's lacrosse history.
Dooley's assist on Goldsmith's goal, his fourth helper of the year, moved him into second among all Bears in 2021.
Ashton Wood surpassed 100 face-off wins in 2021.
The Bears caused a season-high 21 turnovers.

UP NEXT
Mercer will take a break from Southern Conference play next weekend when it welcomes Utah to Five Star Stadium for an 11:00 a.m. contest on Saturday.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com