Lacrosse | 4/18/2015 5:28:00 PM

AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria University Women's lacrosse program will face SCAD in the NWLL South Regional Championship on Sunday, April 18 in Hardeeville, South Carolina. SCAD won in the head-to-head matchup with AMU last week; therefore hosting the post season game.

AMU lacrosse finished the regular season with a 3-9 overall record; 2-6 in the NWLL.

 
GREEN AND BLUE NEWS
Ave Maria Women's Lacrosse defeated Saint Andrew's University 11-10 last Friday afternoon in a neutral site game. AMU started the game rocky as the Knights scored the first three goals of the game. AMU slowly started to pick up speed as Catie Cox went on to score the next three goals for AMU in a six minute span. The Knights kept a narrow one to two goal lead for the rest of the half. AMU went into halftime trailing 4-5.The second half saw six lead changes. With 6:00 minutes left in the game, AMU was trailing by two. Lydia Buckley and Kaylin Mayeski found the back of the net in the next four minutes to tie the game.  With 1:35 seconds left to go in the game, the Lady Gyrenes gained possession and was able to hold the ball for the last shot. Abby Castro found her way into the eight meter striking zone; before getting fouled and was granted a free position shot with four seconds on the clock. Castro scored with one second remaining to cap the win.Cox led Ave with five goals, seven ground balls, and three draw controls. Buckley added three goals, while Castro added two goals, four draw controls and one assist. Kaylin Mayeski scored one goal and assisted on two others. Goalie, Hannah Camerota made six saves for the Blue and Green.

In the second game of the week; AMU was defeated by SCAD 22-2. The Bees struck first as the Bees won the first draw and transitioned the ball; scoring in the first 13 seconds into the game.  Leading 3-0,  Charlotte Walters netted back-to-back goals to give SCAD the 5-0 advantage, before  Cox ran down a ground ball and ran coast to coast to score her 12th goal of her career. The Blue and Green trailed 1-13 at the half. SCAD scored seven unanswered goals to take a 22-1 lead with 4:18 remaining. Mayeski scored an unassisted goal for Ave Maria for the 22-2 final. Camerota made seven saves in cage for AMU
 
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Lydia Buckley, Jr. Att. – 20 goals, 33 draw controls
Abby Castro, So. Mid. – 14 goals, 42 groundballs, 20 caused turnovers, 22 draw controls
Catie Cox, Sr. Mid.  – 47 ground balls, 13 caused turnovers, 21 draw controls
Valeria Tkacik, Fr. Def. – 4 assists, 28 groundballs, 10 caused turnovers, 17 draw controls
Kaylin Mayeski, Fr. Att. - 15 goals, 4 assists

SCOUTING THE BEES
Head coach Adrienne Berkland had led the Bees to a #1 NWLL ranking throughout the season – losing only to conference foe Georgetown College and NCAA DII opponent, Florida Tech with a regular season record of 9-2. The Bees are led by Kayla Nelson who is averaging 5 points per game and goalie, Jenny Danko who has a 50% save percentage on the season.
 
LADY GYRENE REMARKS
"We have done our homework on SCAD and the memory of our last game is still fresh in our minds. We will compete and give SCAD a run for their money. We have an amazing opportunity to make some noise in the NWLL," said head coach Kelly Buikus in preparing for the regional game.

"A Bee can only sting once. We truly believe we can compete with SCAD and we are going to make them work." – Sophomore, captain Abby Castro

"I hope this isn't my last game, but I'm going to see the sentimental value of it and enjoy the experience with my teammates. It's been a wonderful year and we are going to fight hard until the final buzzer" – Senior, Erin Bornstein
 
 TOP TEN NWLL POLL - WEEK 7

1. SCAD (Ga)
2. Davenport (Mi)
3. Georgetown (Ky)
4. Indiana Tech (In)
5. Lawrence Tech (Mi)
6. Tennessee Wesleyan (Tn)
7. Siena Heights (Mi)
8. Reinhardt  (Ga)
9. Aquinas (Mi)
10. Robert Morris (Ill)