Ave Maria, Fla. — The Ave Maria University women's soccer team earned a gritty 1-1 draw on Saturday evening against St. Thomas University at Gyrene Field, securing their first Sun Conference point of the season.

The Gyrenes struck early when midfielder Cate Cox opened the scoring in the ninth minute, with a strike to give AMU a 1-0 lead. The ball took a weird hop off her foot, confusing the Bobcat keeper for just a moment. That moment was long enough though for the ball to roll by her as Cox got her third goal of the season and put the Gyrenes on top.

From there, the match turned into a defensive stand for Ave Maria, as the Bobcats poured on the pressure with 26 total shots and 13 corner kicks.

Despite being outshot 26-5, the Gyrenes leaned on goalkeeper Avalena DeBolt, who delivered a standout performance with 10 saves to keep her side in front for much of the contest.

St. Thomas finally broke through in the 80th minute, when Natalie Nyberg found the equalizer to level the score at 1-1.

The Gyrenes held strong over the final 10 minutes, getting three saves from DeBolt and a blocked shot from the defense, to secure the result.

Head coach Tyler Rosser praised his team's resilience after the match. "I was extraordinarily pleased with their effort. I'm really proud of the gritty performance," said Rosser. "We lost a couple of players to injury, and we had already had a lot of injuries, so I was just really proud that they finished. I'm disappointed we didn't win, but at the same time it's a good result for us in conference to get that point."

Rosser highlighted the Gyrenes' defensive focus against a dangerous Bobcats attack: "One of the things that we really had focused on in this match is defensive discipline, keeping everything in front of us and making them go backward. I think we did a really good job with that tonight."

Looking ahead, Rosser emphasized recovery: "To be honest, we're going to regroup after this one and see about the injuries…We'll watch the film and hopefully get some people healthy." 
With the draw, Ave Maria moves to 4-5-2 overall on the season and 0-1-1 in conference play.

For their next test, the Gyrenes head to West Palm to face the No. 1 Keiser Seahawks Wednesday, October 8^th. Kickoff is set for 11 am and the match will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.