AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University women's soccer team went head-to-head with the defending national champions on Saturday evening, narrowly falling to the Keiser University Seahawks, 1-0, at Gyrene Field. The Gyrenes are one of just two teams to hold Keiser to a single goal in a match this season, with Keiser's 2-1 loss to Southeastern as the only other.
Keiser and Ave Maria battled to a scoreless draw for most of the first half, before the Seahawks finally got an opportunity in the 32nd minute. A foul in the box led to a penalty kick from Kyoka Koshijma, who finished to give Keiser a 1-0 lead. The Gyrenes' best chance came on an Emily Dalton free kick that was saved by Amanda Ewald, who also stopped a follow-up attempt from Celena Liguori.
The Gyrenes twice turned away golden opportunities from the Seahawks in the second half, keeping the match 1-0. In the 62nd minute, a shot by Maja Lundman was cleared near the goal by the Gyrenes, and a subsequent shot from Oline Sundgot was saved. In the 66th minute, Keiser was given a second penalty kick, but Maddie Samuelson came up big for the Gyrenes with a save. AMU was never able to find an equalizer, though, ending the match with the same 1-0 score.
AMU was outshot by the Seahawks by a 19-5 margin in a game that was played mostly in a steady rain. The Seahawks also had seven corner kick opportunities, all of which were turned away by the defensive effort of the Gyrenes. Of Keiser's 19 shots, 12 challenged the goalkeeper.
Maddie Samuelson did everything she could to keep Ave Maria in the match, making ten saves. Those ten saves included the stop on the penalty kick, as well as snuffing out a number of other excellent chances from the Seahawks. On offense, Emily Dalton provided four of Ave Maria's five shots, as well as two of the team's three shots on goal. The other shot came from Celena Liguori on a rebound from a Dalton free kick in the first half.
Despite the loss, other results in the conference confirmed that Ave Maria will have a home match in The Sun Conference Tournament, which begins next Saturday. A match between Keiser and USCB on Monday will determine the Gyrenes' seed - a USCB win or a draw will set the Gyrenes up as the number four seed against St. Thomas, while a Keiser victory will give AMU the third seed and a home date against Warner. Kickoff for AMU's first ever home conference tournament game will be announced later this week.
