AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria women's lacrosse team defeated Lourdes 16-8 on Wednesday afternoon. The Lady Gyrenes jumped out to a 8-3 halftime lead and cruised to an eight goal win.
 
Ave Maria scored three goals in the first 2:36 of the game when Abby Castro, Sarah Wade, and Katelyn Sherman each found the back of the net. After a Lourdes goal, Mackenzie Tourville and Stephanie Hilker got in on the scoring before Sherman and Wade each netted their second goal of the game to make it 7-1. Sherman added a man-up goal late in the half to make it 8-3 at the break.
 
Georgia Miller became the sixth Lady Gyrene to score on the day when she scored less than a minute into the second half. After a Lourdes goal, four more goals by AMU made it 13-4. Later in the second half, Sherman would add two more goals before Alexis Smith got in on the scoring to make it 16-6. Lourdes would add two goals to make the final 16-8.
 
Sherman finished with five goals and one assist to lead AMU. Tourville added three goals and team-high three assists. She also had nine draw controls. Wade tallied three goals followed by Hilker with two goals while Castro, Miller, and Smich each had one. Valeria Tkacik had four ground balls, four caused turnovers, and three draw controls.
 
Bianca Ballarin picked up the win in net for AMU. She played the first 48 minutes of the game and made six saves. She allowed six goals. Andie Wagner played the final 12 minutes for AMU and made four saves while allowing two goals.
 
The sixth-ranked Lady Gyrenes welcome second-ranked Lawrence Tech to Gyrene field on Friday. The top-10 battle will begin at 4 p.m.