AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria University men's soccer dropped their conference opener to the Florida Memorial Lions Saturday evening by a 3-0 score at Gyrene Field. It was a back-and-forth game in the first half, but FMU ran away with the game in the final 20 minutes.
In the first half, the Lions controlled the ball and sent an onslaught of shots towards the AMU goal. Luckily for the Gyrenes, Rhys Lawlor and the Ave Maria defense were up to the task, and stopped everything the Lions threw at them. On the offensive side, the Gyrenes were able to get fast breakaways and quick bursts of speed up the field but could not convert on any of their chances. When the halftime buzzer sounded, the Lions were outshooting the Gyrenes 20-6, but the score remained 0-0.
In the second half, the early minutes resembled the first half. Florida Memorial would mount a steady attack on the Gyrenes, usually countered by a deep ball and Josh Gaeng running after it, trying to make a play towards the FMU net. About six minutes into the final period, it looked like Ave Maria had broken the scoreless tie. Diego Heredia broke free down the sideline and sent a rocket past the Lions' goaltender. Unfortunately, after a few seconds of celebration, the play was whistled offsides and the game reset back to 0-0 on the scoreboard.
15 minutes later, Florida Memorial scored the official first goal of the game. Geovannie Lake got past the AMU defenders and scored his first goal of the season and gave the Lions a 1-0 lead.
From that point on, FMU would not look back. The Lions kept the ball away from the Gyrenes and added two more goals to build a comfortable 3-0 lead, which would prove to be the final score.
Ave Maria showed good fight in their conference opener, but Florida Memorial proved to be too much for the Gyrenes to handle. With the loss, AMU falls to 0-1 in conference play and 4-3 overall on the season. Their next game is Saturday, October 1 at Thomas University and their next home game is October 5 when they host the St. Thomas Bobcats.
