Sarasota, Fla. — With their victory over New College of Florida, the Ave Maria University Women's Soccer team is postseason bound. In a must-win matchup to close out the regular season, the Gyrenes rose to the occasion, defeating New College 1–0 on Wednesday afternoon and clinch their spot in the Sun Conference Tournament.

The victory, their first conference win of the season, couldn't have come at a more opportune time. With their tournament hopes on the line, the Gyrenes delivered a complete team performance, putting pressure on the Mighty Banyans right from the start. The powerful performance was highlighted by a defining moment in the 32nd minute.

Sophomore forward Daria Charron provided the breakthrough, when she rose above the New College defense to head home a perfectly placed cross from senior Catherine Dalton. The shot arced just over the keeper's outstretched hands and rolled down the back of the net, igniting the Ave Maria bench and giving the Gyrenes a lead they would not relinquish. The goal is Charron's second of her career, and first of conference play.

From there, the defense took control. Senior goalkeeper Emma Schweitzer turned in an impressive performance, making five crucial saves to preserve the shutout. The clean sheet was Schweitzer's 11th career shutout, tying her with Maddie Samuelson (2020-22) for the most in program history — a fitting milestone in a game that secured the Gyrenes' postseason fate.

Ave Maria outshot New College 17–16, showing poise and persistence on both ends of the field. The Gyrenes dominated control on the field throughout the rest of the game, neutralizing New College's efforts to tie the game.

With the win, Ave Maria improves to 5-7-5 overall and 1-3-4 against Sun Conference opponents. They finish league play with seven points, tying them with New College and Warner who also won on Wednesday. The Gyrenes won the three-team tiebreaker, having going 1-0-1 against the other two teams. New College beat Warner but lost to Ave Maria, going 1-1, and Warner went 0-1-1, losing to the Mighty Banyans and tying the Gyrenes.

It is the third consecutive trip to the postseason for the Gyrenes and their fourth time under head coach Tyler Rosser. Ave Maria will enter the tournament as the sixth seed and will take on the third seed SCAD Bees. SCAD traveled down to Southwest Florida for the regular season match so the Sun Conference Quarterfinals will be the Gyrenes first trip to Hardeeville in 2025. SCAD knocked Ave Maria out of the tournament last year in the Semifinals and the Gyrenes would love return the favor.

The Quarterfinal match is Wednesday, November 5, and the match will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.