West Broward alum Milena Isturiz 2G/3GBs/2CTOs/6DCs for Keiser.

via the school press releases/websites

BOX SCORE

Foley Game-Winner Sends No. 6 Women’s Lacrosse to Sun Conference Finals

Sun Conference Semifinals
Score: No. 6 Keiser Seahawks 19, No. 10 Ave Maria Gyrenes 18
Records: No. 6 Keiser (11-6), Ave Maria (7-6)
Location: Multi-Purpose Field, West Palm Beach, Fla.

In the dying seconds of the fourth quarter, Chloe Foley leaped, caught, and shot a ball into the left side of the net that would give No. 6 Keiser women’s lacrosse the 19-18 win over No. 10 Ave Maria in the Sun Conference Semifinal. The game was a back-and-forth affair throughout, with the score tied at 16-16 going into the final 15 minutes of play. After the Seahawks took the lead with just over a minute remaining, the Gyrenes responded with a goal that most in attendance thought would surely mean overtime. Keiser would not let that be the case, as following a yellow card with 16 seconds left, the Seahawks somehow managed to find Foley with just six seconds on the clock to send Keiser through to the Sun Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon.

Keiser 5, Ave Maria 4

• Samantha Esher’s first goal of the game came in with 14:23 on the clock to give Keiser the early 1-0 lead.
• Madison Andrews set up the score for the assist and her first point of the game. 
• A free-position goal by AMU’s Alexandra Mazurczak tied the game at 1-1 (12:15).
• One minute later, Esher put Keiser ahead, 2-1, off an assist by MacKenzie Gibaud.
• After a Gyrenes goal tied the game with 7:49 left to play in the first, Keiser rattled off two straight scores as Sydney Passaro (5:45) and Esher (4:57 – hat trick) gave the Seahawks a two-goal lead.
• Andrews scored her second goal of the quarter to give Keiser a 5-3 lead (2:01).
• Abigail Seiler cut KU’s lead to one with a free-position goal at the 1:32 mark.

Ave Maria 9, Keiser 8

• Gibaud’s 23rd goal of the season extended the Seahawks’ lead, 6-4, with 12:33 left in the half.
• The man-up opportunity was set up by Krystal Beebe, who was credited with the assist.
• Both teams exchanged goals as Keiser held a two-goal advantage following Gibaud’s second goal in under three minutes, 7-5.
• The Seahawks pushed their lead to three, 8-5, as Hayley Frew’s 28th goal of 2024 was recorded with 8:57 on the game clock.
• The Gyrenes followed with four straight goals to take a one-goal lead into halftime. 

Keiser 16, Ave Maria 16

• Esher’s fourth goal of the game tied the contest, 9-9, with 13:21 left in the third period.
• The Seahawks took the lead on a twizzler shot by Milena Isturiz with Andrews getting the assist, marking her 17th goal of the season (12:49).
• Choley Foley broke the 10-10 tie, scoring goal number 29 of the season with 11:08 on the scoreboard.
• Two straight goals by the Gyrenes gave Ave a 12-11 lead (6:54).
• Isturiz, Frew, and Andrews got Keiser on a roll as the Seahawks tied the game then pushed their lead to two, 14-12, with 5:13 remaining in the period.
• With the score continuing to go back-and-forth, AMU led 16-15 following a goal by Hannah Shaffrey at the 1:04 mark.
• On a man-up, free-position shot, Emily McCall made sure Keiser went into the fourth tied, scoring her 11th goal of 2024 with 41 seconds on the game clock.

Keiser 19, Ave Maria 18

• For all of the scoring that took place during the first 45 minutes of action, neither team could find the back of the net until Ave’s Orianna Eldridge scored with 4:30 left in the game.
• A bit of foreshadowing took place with 3:20 on the game clock as Foley tied the contest with her second goal of the game.
• The game-tying goal was assisted by Kamille Thomas.
• Gibaud gave Keiser the late lead, scoring the team’s 18th goal with 1:04 remaining in the fourth.
• After a timeout by the Gyrenes, AMU’s Anna Bocchino tied the game with 26 seconds left in regulation.
• In what appeared to be a contest heading to overtime, the Seahawks had a final chance after a yellow card was given to AMU’s Bocchino (16 seconds left).
• As time was winding down, Passaro (from behind the net) found Foley just off the right side of the goal. As the senior jumped up for the Passaro pass, she whipped a shot past Gyrene’s goalkeeper for the game-winner.

• Keiser is now 11-6 on the year following the win.
• The Seahawks move to 9-2 all-time in postseason conference play and 2-1 in Sun Conference postseason play.
• Esher and Andrews each recorded five points with Esher scoring a team-high four goals in the game.
• Andrews and Cannon each tallied three assists in the contest to tie for the team lead.
• On her first assist of the game, Cannon also reached a milestone of 100 career points.
• Gibaud and Foley each recorded a hat trick in the game for Keiser.
• Frew led the way in the circle with seven draw controls, just in front of Isturiz, who totaled six.
• Isturiz did lead the team in groundballs on the afternoon with three.
• In her second start, Emily Passaro tied for the team lead in caused turnovers with Sydney Parker as each recorded three.
• Margaret Wroe and Raelyn Boutwell combined for seven saves in the contest as Boutwell recorded her first win of the season.
• The win for KU sets up a rematch of the 2023 Sun Conference Tournament Championship where No. 5 SCAD defeated No. 1 Keiser 9-6 on April 22, 2023 in Savannah, Ga.

No. 6 Keiser
Points:Esher/Andrews (5)
Goals: Esher (4)
Assists: Cannon/Andrews (3)
Draw Controls: Frew (7)
Ground Balls: Isturiz (3)
Caused Turnovers: E. Passaro/Parker (3)
Saves: Wroe (6)

No. 10 Ave Maria
Points: Mazurczak/Bocchino (6)
Goals: Mazurczak/Bocchino (5)
Assists: Shaffrey (6)
Draw Controls: Prentice (9)
Ground Balls: Tittinger (3)
Caused Turnovers: Four players (2)
Saves: Durr (8)

Keiser will face the SCAD Savannah Bees in the Sun Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday, April 20. Game time from the KU Multi-Purpose Field is set for 1:00 PM.

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*****

Lacrosse Loses Heartbreaker in SUN Semis

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In one of the most thrilling games of the season for the Gyrenes, Ave Maria came seven seconds away from forcing overtime in the SUN Conference Semifinal. However, a very late goal from the Seahawks knocked Ave Maria out of the tournament as Keiser won 19-18.

Friday afternoon was a very back-and-forth game with neither team getting more than a three goal lead on the other. KU outscored the Gyrenes 5-4 in the first quarter. AMU got their goals from four different shooters. Alexandra Mazurczak got the first goal for Ave Maria, tying the game at one just a little under three minutes into the game. Orianna Eldridge netted the second with a short-handed goal assisted, putting away a nice feed from Hannah Shaffrey.

Anna Bocchino got the third and Abbey Seiler scored the final goal of the frame for either team about 90 seconds before the horn.

Midway through the second quarter, Keiser got the biggest lead of the game, getting up 8-5 on the Gyrenes. Ave Maria responded with a vengeance, scoring the final four goals of the half. Seiler started the rally with an unassisted goal, then followed by Mazurczak and Lily Hynds, getting her first goal of the game and tying the score at eight.

With 17 seconds left in the half, Seiler got her third of the game and put the Gyrenes on top 9-8 heading into the break.

The third quarter had an onslaught of goals from both teams. Altogether, the Gyrenes and Seahawks combined for 15 goals, with Keiser taking the slight edge 8-7.

KU scored the first two goals of the frame to retake the lead 10-9. After bouncing a few times, between leads and ties, the Gyrenes struck three times in the span of a minute and 48 seconds to take a 16-15 lead. Mazurczak scored the first two goals of the streak followed by Shaffrey getting her first goal of the game. In the final minute of the quarter, Keiser tied the game at 16 with a man-advantage goal.

As if needing a break from all of the scoring in the third, the two teams tightened up defensively and combined for the lowest scoring frame of the game in the fourth.

The two teams played more than 10 minutes tied at 16 to start the fourth quarter. Emily Durr made three saves and had one shot go off the post to keep the Seahawks at bay. On the other side, KU goalie Raelyn Boutwell made one save on the Gyrenes while two more shots went wide of the net.

Four and a half minutes left to play in the game, Ave Maria got a free position shot off a foul from the Seahawks. Eldridge took the free shot and buried it home giving AMU a one goal lead.

The lead didn’t last long however as Keiser hit twine on their next two shots to take an 18-17 lead with a minute and four seconds remaining.

With their backs against the wall, the Gyrenes won the draw and advanced in the offensive zone looking to tie the game. After a few seconds, Shaffrey found Bocchino who had an open look at the net and she did not miss, evening the game at 18 with 26 seconds left on the clock.

In a game that saw last second goals in every quarter, Ave Maria believed they had recorded the last second goal of the frame that would send the semifinal to overtime. Unfortunately, in the final 26 seconds of the game, Keiser won the draw, advanced into the offensive zone and scored the winning goal, this time with just seven seconds remaining.

Ave Maria couldn’t control the ball in the ensuing draw and the clock ran out, ending the game in favor of the Seahawks.

At 37 combined goals, Friday’s semifinal was the highest scoring game in Ave Maria history in six years.

Four Gyrenes had multi-goal games with Mazurczak and Bocchino leading the team each with five. Eldridge and Seiler both had three. Hynds and Shaffrey scored the last two goals for the Gyrenes.

In the net, Durr made eight saves, her third highest total this year.

With the loss, Ave Maria finishes the season with a 7-6 record. It is the Gyrenes’ first winning record in program history. The Gyrenes end the season with the most goals scored in program history (182) and the second-fewest goals allowed (133). Individually, Shaffrey set the single season record for assists (26) for the third year in a row. Also, Kylie Tittinger tied the single season record for caused turnovers (32) matching her season from a year ago. Emily Durr also tied the single season record for wins (7) with Bianca Ballarin’s seven win season in 2017.