AVE MARIA, Fla. — For the third match in a row, the Ave Maria Women's Soccer team ended with a 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon against the Florida National Conquistadors. The Gyrenes took a lot of shots in the non-conference match but had trouble directing them on net.

Florida National opened the scoring early in the first half. After a couple of shots that went wide, the Conquistadors scored their first goal against the Gyrenes since 2019 in the 13^th minute. The shot came from just outside the penalty arc and took Ave Maria completely by surprise.

The Gyrenes responded almost immediately though. Just 15 seconds later, Catherine Dalton received a pass in the penalty area, whipped around and fired it into the net to tie the game at one. It is Dalton's second goal of the season and first since the wild 7-0 win over Abraham-Baldwin.

Fifteen seconds apart is the shortest timespan in between goals in an Ave Maria Women's Soccer games this season, passing the previous mark of two minutes and 24 seconds that was set Wednesday, September 25, against the St. Thomas Bobcats, a match that also ended tied at one.

After the back-to-back goals, the two teams played even soccer up until the half.

Out of the break, the Gyrenes took control of the game and the ball. Of the final 45 minutes, Ave Maria had possession of the ball for at least 40 minutes and fired off 15 shots. However, only two of them were directed on goal and both were saved by Florida National.

Kana Mateaki and Giana Durle had the two shots on goal for the Gyrenes. Mateaki's was saved by the goalkeeper while Durle's got passed the keeper but was saved by a Conquistador defender and was booted away.

Florida National took just one shot in the second half, which was on goal and saved by Emma Schweitzer with just two and a half minutes remaining.

Ave Maria got one more corner kick before the end of the game, but the resulting header went wide. When the final horn sounded, the two teams walked off the field locked at one.

Saturday was the first ever tie between the Gyrenes and the Conquistadors. It is also the third 1-1 tie in a row for Ave Maria, starting with their 1-1 tie against Florida College a week earlier. With the draw, Ave Maria's record moves to 4-1-3.

The Gyrenes are on the road for their next match as they travel across Alligator Alley to take on the Keiser Seahawks Wednesday, October 2. This game was originally scheduled to be the season opener back on August 22 but was postponed due to rain. It is the first of two matches between Ave Maria and Kieser, with the second being at home on October 16. The game can be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.