The University of North Florida Ospreys defeated the Jacksonville University Dolphins in their last Rivercity Rumble match of the 2025-2026 year on May 3, winning the all-sports tournament for the third consecutive year.
The competition is set across 14 sports between UNF and JU. While the track and field teams’ performances at the ASUN Outdoor Championships also count toward the score, the North Florida baseball team made it impossible for the Dolphins to catch up with a 16-11 deficit.
Fall Semester
Men’s soccer
The first Rivercity Rumble match of the athletic year was between the men’s soccer teams on Sept. 27 at Jacksonville’s Southern Oak Stadium. The Dolphins played an aggressive first half, taking eight shots compared to the Ospreys’ four shots. Still, both teams struggled to score early on.
The Ospreys broke the stalemate late into the first half, with redshirt senior Jaxon Reinhardt making a goal with an assist by senior defender Jaylen Yearwood.
Redshirt senior Jaxon Reinhardt was a key fixture in the North Florida Ospreys’ victory against the Jacksonville Dolphins with one goal and two shots on goal.
The Dolphins were unable to score before the end of the game. With a final score of 1-0, North Florida won the first Rivercity Rumble match.
On Oct. 25, the men’s soccer team was back at home to face off against the Dolphins again. Late into the first half, the Ospreys took a two-goal lead with senior midfielder Tyler Prebenda and junior midfielder Anton Khelil making goals, both assisted by Rentaro Miyakawa.
Similar to their first match, the Dolphins couldn’t score, and the game ended 2-0, giving North Florida another point.
Women’s soccer
The next day, on Sept. 28, the women’s soccer team played against the Dolphins at North Florida’s Hodges Stadium.
The Ospreys took an early lead with redshirt junior Allie Fekany making a goal with an assist by fellow redshirt junior Isabella Pontieri.
The game continued and looked like it could have been another win for North Florida, but the Dolphins clawed victory back from the Ospreys with two goals in the last ten minutes.
The game ended 1-2, tying the score between North Florida and Jacksonville in the Rivercity Rumble.
On Oct. 19, North Florida was back at Southern Oak Stadium with the women’s soccer team facing off against Jacksonville. Like their last match, the Ospreys scored early with senior midfielder Chloe Lynch making a goal with an assist from Pontieri.
The Dolphins quickly countered, making a goal soon after. Both teams spent the rest of the first half going back and forth without scoring. The Dolphins eventually took the lead, scoring two goals within 20 minutes of the second half.
The Ospreys fought to avoid another loss, with Pontieri scoring an unassisted goal at minute 72. With roughly four minutes left in the game, redshirt junior Paige McSwigan scored one last goal for the Ospreys with an assist from Lynch, allowing the game to end as a tie.
Volleyball
The volleyball teams were the next to compete on Oct. 2 at Jacksonville’s Swisher Gymnasium.
The Dolphins held the lead for most of the first set, at one point going 8-16 against the Ospreys. While the Ospreys made a comeback and briefly held the lead, they quickly lost momentum, committing three back-to-back errors and losing the set to the Dolphins 20-25.
Freshman setter Sofia Dawson was a statistical leader in the North Florida Ospreys’ first match against the Jacksonville Dolphins, making 22 assists.
While the Ospreys had fewer attack errors than the Dolphins in the next two sets, they also made fewer kills. With a total hitting percentage of .337, the Dolphins won the match 0-3, and Jacksonville took the lead over North Florida in the Rivercity Rumble.
The volleyball team had its home game against the Dolphins on Oct. 30.
The Ospreys fell short in the first set, losing 19-25, but tied the game in the second set with a 25-19 win.
The Osprey gained more distance, narrowly winning the third set with a two-point difference. Both teams were neck and neck for most of the fourth set until the Dolphins took it 25-27, sending the game into overtime.
The Dolphins held the lead early in the fifth set, but the Ospreys kept the game alive, tying up the set each time the Dolphins were a point away from victory.
Refusing to go down, freshman setter Sofia Dawson set up the ball for graduate outside hitter Kailey McKnight, who made the kill and gave the Ospreys the lead.
Finally, McKnight and senior middle blocker Yarimar Garay Francis blocked the Dolphins’ final attack, taking the set 18-16, winning the game 3-2, and earning North Florida a second consecutive Rivercity Rumble point.
Men’s and women’s cross country
Concluding the fall semester, the men’s and women’s cross country teams both won a point for North Florida at the ASUN Championship, with both placing third while Jacksonville placed 12th and eighth, respectively.
The fall semester ended with North Florida leading Jacksonville in the Rivercity Rumble, 5-2.
Spring Semester
Women’s basketball
The first Rivercity Rumble match of the spring semester was between the women’s basketball teams on Valentine’s Day at the UNF Arena. The Ospreys played a solid offensive and defensive game in the first quarter, lapping the Dolphins 18-8.
However, the Dolphins excelled in the second quarter, going from 21.1% on field goals in the first quarter to 46.2% and making 100% of their free throws. By the end of the second quarter, the Dolphins were catching up to the Ospreys with a score of 29-26.
The Dolphins passed up the Ospreys midway through the third quarter, with freshman guard Tatum Brown scoring a three-pointer.
The Ospreys fought hard and ended the third quarter tied with the Dolphins at 42-42. The Dolphins quickly took on a dominating lead of their own in the fourth quarter, putting 13 points between themselves and the Ospreys by the last three minutes.
The Ospreys broke out of their slump in the last three minutes of the game, putting up nine points before the end of the game, but they were unable to overtake the Dolphins, losing 52-58.
The team continued this streak with its second match against the Dolphins.
Both teams had a slow start in the first quarter, but the Dolphins managed to maintain a small lead. In the second quarter, the Dolphins continued to outplay the Osprey, holding a six-point lead by halftime.
The Ospreys had a major boost in performance during the third quarter, nearly doubling their field goal percentage and going from 0% on three-point shots to 42.9%. Still, the Dolphins maintained a small lead, going into the fourth quarter up four points.
By the end of the game, the Ospreys were unable to close the gap, allowing Jacksonville to add another point in the Rivercity Rumble.
Men’s basketball
The men’s basketball team wasn’t having better luck against the Dolphins in their first game on Feb. 14, ending the first half down six points.
While the Ospreys had a better second half, they couldn’t erase their deficit, ending the game down 56-63 and further shrinking Jacksonville’s distance from North Florida.
North Florida suffered another loss when the team had its second game on Feb. 28. The Ospreys had a rough first half, only making 17.9% of their field goals and 10.7% of their three-pointers.
By the end of the first six minutes of the game, the Dolphins had scored 13 points while the Ospreys had only scored one. The Ospreys ended the first half down 49-20.
The Ospreys improved in the second half, rising to 53.6% on their field goals, though their three-point percentage remained at 10.7%.
While the North Florida Ospreys had better luck against the Jacksonville Dolphins later in the game, they only managed to marginally shrink the gap between them.
Despite the Ospreys’ improved performance in the second half, the Dolphins refused to give up their lead. By the end of the game, the Ospreys had only marginally shrunk their deficit, leaving the Dolphins as the winners with a 24-point gap.
Beach volleyball
North Florida interrupted its basketball program’s losing streak on Feb. 21 when the beach volleyball team swept the Dolphins 5-0 at Dolphin Beach.
To further push North Florida’s lead, the beach volleyball team went against the Dolphins on March 7 at The Cooper Beach Volleyball Complex. While the Ospreys lost the first set, they won the next four sets and earned back North Florida’s lead in the Rivercity Rumble.
Women’s indoor track
The North Florida women’s track and field team had better luck in the ASUN Indoor Championship from Feb 27–28, coming in second place.
With the Jacksonville Dolphins coming in just under the Ospreys in third place, North Florida began to reclaim their lead.
Softball
The next set of matches came during spring break, from March 19-21, when the North Florida softball team hosted Jacksonville for its home series.
Both teams played late into the night on day one, going into an eighth inning tied up at five runs. The dolphins sealed the Ospreys’ fate when two runners scored unearned runs as freshman outfielder Jaida Thomas singled down the left field line.
The Ospreys weren’t able to even the score back up with junior infielder Hannah Davila making the team’s only run at the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Ospreys were back at the UNF Softball Complex with a vengeance the next day, ending the Dolphins’ turn in three batters and making six runs in the first inning. The Ospreys continued to shut down the Dolphins and ended the game in the fifth inning with a final score of 4-12.
The Ospreys and the Dolphins were neck-and-neck in the third game until the seventh inning, when the Dolphins made four runs off of two homers. The Ospreys were only able to get two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, making the game and the series another win for Jacksonville.
From April 29 to May 1, the softball team had another series against the Jacksonville Dolphins at the Debbie & Fred Pruitt Softball Complex. The Dolphins swept the Ospreys in the first game, going 0-5. The Ospreys held their own the next day, winning game two 10-4.
Similar to game three of their first series, the Ospreys and the Dolphins had a close match on the final day, but the Dolphins managed to edge out a win, going 8-9.
Golf
From April 17-19, the women’s golf team competed in the ASUN Championship, coming out on top in first place 20-under 844 (278-270-296). The men’s golf team also competed in the ASUN Championship from April 21-23, ranking fifth.
With the Jacksonville Women’s golf team and men’s golf team coming in at 11th and seventh place, respectively, North Florida secured two more points in the Rivercity Rumble.
Baseball
The baseball team played its away series against the Jacksonville Dolphins on March 27.
While the first match was a close 4-2 win for the Osprey, the next two matches were much more one-sided, with the Ospreys winning 11-4 on day two and 12-6 on day three, sweeping the Dolphins and racking up more points for North Florida in the Rivercity Rumble.
Finally, the same night the second softball series came to an end, the second baseball series came to a roaring start with the North Florida Ospreys facing down the Jacksonville Dolphins at Dusty Rhodes Field.
The Ospreys and the Dolphins matched each other in the first inning, both getting one run. The Ospreys took the lead in the second inning and extended it in the fourth and fifth innings, holding a four-run lead by the start of the sixth inning.
The Dolphins took off at the top of the ninth inning, scoring three runs and evening out the game.
Refusing to go into the tenth inning, redshirt junior Jackson Toberman singled up the middle, allowing sophomore utility Seth Alford to score and winning the game 4-5.
The roles were reversed the next day, with the Ospreys sitting at zero runs by the end of the third inning, with the Dolphins up by four. The Ospreys began to score in the fourth inning and continued to score in the ninth inning, but they fell short of beating the Dolphins, ending the game 4-3.
The last day of the series saw the most dominance from the Ospreys, starting with a home run by Toberman in the second inning, earning the Ospreys two runs.
At the top of the third inning, it appeared as if the Dolphins had made a home run on their own, but after review from the umpires, it was decided that the Dolphins had flied out, resulting in an argument between Dolphins Head Coach Chris Hayes and one of the umpires.
North Florida fans could be heard from the James J. Patton Osprey Nest saying to “throw him out” for his behavior.
The game continued with the Ospreys racking up more runs. The Dolphins attempted to catch up, but the team was unable to make any runs.
The game ended when redshirt junior Jackson Schrafft doubled to left center, allowing Alford to score. With the Ospreys up 0-10, they made a run-rule win in the seventh inning.
With this final win, North Florida also won the Rivercity Rumble.
UNF and JU will return to compete in the fall semester.
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