JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Sophomore midfielder Ryan McNamara's career-high four goals led No. 13 Marquette past Jacksonville 12-10 at D.B. Milne Field on Friday evening.
"I'm proud of Ryan. He took the game over and was the best player on the field tonight," Marquette head coach Joe Amplo said. "I don't think he played well in the first quarter and he had a key turnover that led to a goal. I remember coach [Stephen] Brundage walking over to him and calming him down. I felt like that was a turning point for him because he felt confident from that point on."
McNamara posted three of his goals in the fourth quarter as the Golden Eagles (6-0) remained undefeated by outscoring JU 4-2 in the final frame. Graduate attackman Jordan Greenfield notched four points on two goals and a pair of assists, while Blaine Fleming and Conor Gately each also added two markers in the win.
Attackman Tom Moore led the Dolphins (2-2) with a game-high six points (three goals, three assists) and Dakota Rohlin added two goals and two assists.
Moore's second and third goals came at the end of the third quarter as the Dolphins erased a three-goal deficit to tie things up 8-8. With Moore's game-tying tally, MU entered the fourth quarter tied for the first time this season.
McNamara responded to start the fourth with two goals in the first five minutes and Greenfield put the Golden Eagles back up three at 11-8. The Dolphins tallied two more to pull within one at 11-10 before McNamara added the game's final goal with 3:06 to play.
"Our kids are pretty steady and I don't think I felt an emotional shift or a sense of panic, I just felt a calmness over our team," Amplo said. "Our kids were certainly calmer than the staff was, that's for certain. Jacksonville is a good team, they are an opportunistic bunch. They have a good way of making you uncomfortable. We didn't play clean and they capitalized on our mistakes like good teams do."
The Golden Eagles led 3-0 after the opening quarter, but took a one-goal edge 6-5 into the half after being outscored 5-3 in the second.
Fleming put MU on the board first with 10:01 left in the first quarter and added his second with 4:02 to play in the frame. Both of Fleming's tallies in the first were unassisted, while the only other MU goal of the stanza came from Kyran Clarke and was assisted by Greenfield at the 3:20 mark.
The Dolphins jumped out quickly in the second with a pair of goals and pulled within one at 3-2 with 10:31 to play.
Marquette would retake a three-goal edge as Gately beat the Jacksonville goalie low with 4:50 left, but JU scored the final two goals of the second quarter. The Dolphins' final goal of the first half came from Rob Moore as time expired off a feed from his brother Tom.
Marquette's victory is its first in program history at Jacksonville and entered the contest winless in its previous two trips to north Florida.
