AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University women's soccer team dropped a home match on Thursday night, as the Florida College Falcons scored two goals in both halves in a 4-0 win at Gyrene Field in Ave Maria. A hat trick by Florida College's Michaela Nicholson helped put the visiting Falcons over the top under the lights.

After over 34 minutes of scoreless action in the first half, the Falcons scored twice in the span of 90 seconds. Nicholson scored her first goal in the 35th minute on an assist from Brianna Luna, and then scored again in the 36th minute after breaking through the Ave Maria defense. Her two goals gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

Nicholson scored again in the 75th minute, after another nearly 30 minutes of scoreless play. Nicholson's hat trick goal was assisted by Sasha Garcia. Florida College's scoring was capped off by Jennifer Luna, who scored on a penalty kick with less than two minutes remaining in the match. 

The Gyrenes were only outshot 10-9 by the Falcons, an output that included several scoring opportunities. Freshman Haley Iacona provided two of Ave Maria's five shots on goal, while Celena Ligouri, Hannah Dalton, and Cooper Howarth chipped in with the other three Of the nine total shots, four were attempted by Iacona, with the other five coming from five different Gyrenes (Liguori, Howarth, Dalton, Ally Williams and Marguerite Estes).

In her first appearance in goal, freshman Sofia Lopez logged six saves in 90 minutes in net. Lopez made several stellar stops to keep the Florida College lead from further growth. The Falcons' Victoria Fullgar made five saves in the shutout victory.

Ave Maria's next match will see an NCAA Division II opponent come to Gyrene Field. The Knights of Lynn University will travel to Ave Maria on Wednesday for AMU's final non-conference home match of the season. Kickoff against Lynn, which will be the only game of the week for the Gyrenes, is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.