AVE MARIA, Fla. — Claire Wrobleski cashed in on a penalty shot to secure the tie for Ave Maria Saturday night as they played to a 1-1 draw in their first ever matchup against the New College of Florida Banyans. While it was not the outright win the Gyrenes wanted, they are still undefeated in conference play and are currently sitting in first place with seven points.

There was no shortage of shots for the Gyrenes who finished the first half leading the Mighty Banyans 10-3. Unfortunately, those shots did not translate into goals for the Gyrenes, and the two teams went into halftime locked at zero.

Out of the break, Ave Maria kept up the pressure, but it was New College who was awarded the early goal. An innocent ball was played into the penalty area by New College. The Gyrene defense tried to clear it, but the ball just popped up and stayed in the scoring area. Keeper Emma Schweitzer knocked the ball away, but fell down in the process, leaving an open net. A Mighty Banyan retrieved the ball off the gloves of the Gyrene goalie and sent it into the back of the net for the game's first goal.

With the one goal lead, New College pulled back their attack and tried to sit on the lead. The Gyrenes were not having any of that though. Ave Maria turned on the offensive pressure and started creating chance after chance. Unfortunately, none of those chances were resulting in goals.

In the 75^th minute, Kana Mateaki was tripped on while going on the attack and the Gyrenes were awarded a penalty shot for it. Claire Wrobleski stepped up to take the shot and slid the ball under the diving arms of the Mighty Banyans goalie for the equalizer. For the freshman phenom, it was her eighth goal of the season, which is tied for fifth all-time in a season in program history.

Knotted at one with 15 minutes left to play, both teams pressured and threatened to take the lead, but neither found the back of the net again. When the final whistle blew, the score was still tied at one.

"I'm very proud of the women," said head coach Tyler Rosser after the game. "I think that tonight was not our best night and a point in the Sun Conference is a good point. Any point in the Sun Conference is a good point. And so, I'm proud of the resiliency."

With the tie, Ave Maria's record moves to 4-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in conference play. They now have seven points in the Sun Standings and are currently first in conference, just one point ahead of Keiser, SCAD and the Gyrenes' next opponent in the St. Thomas Bobcats.

Ave Maria is one the road for their next game, traveling across the state to Miami Gardens for a Wednesday matchup with St. Thomas. The Bobcats are currently a Receiving Votes team in the NAIA Top 25, but a new poll will be released the day of the match and the Gyrenes are hoping to join them there.

Despite taking on a nationally recognized team and trying to get some recognition themselves, Rosser said they are going to treat it like any other game in the Sun Conference.

"All the Sun Conference opponents are good," he said. "It's going to be a game that we treat like any other game. We're going to review the film, we're going to scout them, we're going to do our best to fix the problems that we say tonight and build on the strengths and move forward."

Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. and the game can be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.