AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Lacrosse team clinched their second straight trip to the Sun Conference Tournament Saturday by beating the Webber Warriors 18-2 on Senior Day. The Gyrenes needed either an AMU win or a Warner loss to clinch a spot and decided to get the job done with a win over Webber.
Before the match, the six seniors on the team, Elie Coyle, Emily Durr, Claire Ichniowski, Elizabeth Nowak, Abbey Seiler and Hannah Shaffrey, were recognized and thanked for their contributions to the Ave Maria lacrosse program.
The Gyrenes started the game off red hot, scoring the first eight goals of the match. Alexandra Mazurczak opened the scoring just 42 seconds into the match with an unassisted goal.
She was followed by Seiler about a minute later to put Ave Maria up 2-0. With that goal, Seiler passed head coach Katelyn Sherman for the second-most career points at Ave Maria with 169.
Ave Maria scored four more goals to close out the quarter with a 6-0 lead. Two of those goals came from Shaffrey while the other two were from Mazurczak and Anna Bocchino.
Seiler got the scoring started in the second quarter to put Ave Maria up 7-0. It also tied her for the most career goals in program history with Sherman at 142.
Ichniowski followed Seiler about two minutes later with her first goal of the game to put Ave Maria up 8-0.
After the Ichniowski goal, Webber got their first strike of the game. Ave Maria responded with another long run, scoring the next nine goals of the game.
Alison Fifield got the run started with a goal assisted by Shaffrey.
Seiler then got her third goal of the game and passed Sherman on the career goals list with number 143. Coming into the season, Sherman held the records for most career points and career goals.
She has now been passed on both of those lists by two seniors, Shaffrey and Seiler.
Ichniowski scored the final goal of the second quarter to put Ave Maria up 11-1. That goal also started the running clock as Ave Maria was up by 10 goals. It is the third game in row the Gyrenes have started the running clock in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Ave Maria got five more goals to go up 16-1. Shaffrey had two of the goals while Bocchino, Ichniowski and Seiler scored the other three.
In the fourth quarter, Nowak scored the first goal of the frame to put AMU up 17-1 and complete the nine-goal run for the Gyrenes. It is Nowak's second goal of the season and her first goal in front of the home crowd at Gyrene Field.
Webber scored their final goal of the game about two minutes after the Nowak goal.
Seiler scored the final goal of the game with a little over eight minutes left to play in the game.
Five Gyrenes had multi-point game Saturday against Webber. Shaffrey led the team with nine points off four goals and five assists. That brings her career total up to 223 points. Seiler was next with five points, all from five goals. She passed Sherman on both career points and goals and currently has 173 points and 145 goals. Ichniowski had three points from three goals, followed by Mazurczak and Bocchino, each with two points from two goals.
With the win, Ave Maria's record improves to 6-7 overall and 4-1 in conference play. The Gyrenes clinched their spot in Sun Conference tournament with just two more games left on the schedule.
Ave Maria is on the road for their next match, traveling across Alligator Alley to take on the Keiser Seahawks. The Seahawks are currently undefeated in conference play at 5-0 and are ranked first in the NAIA. Keiser won the first matchup against the Gyrenes, beating Ave Maria 14-7 in the season opener. If the Gyrenes beat the Seahawks, they will move into a three-way tie for first place with Keiser and SCAD.
Opening draw is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, April 10, and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
