Wednesday night, St. Ambrose hosted a Heart Tournament semifinal against Missouri Baptist. SAU was the No. 2 seed and received a first-round bye while No. 3 MBU battled No. 6 William Woods in overtime in a quarterfinal to get to this game. The Bees came out hot taking an 8-3 lead at halftime and never looked back as they won the match 13-8. The win punches St. Ambrose through to the Heart Tournament championship game.

Both teams, looking to get the Heart Championship game, came out fast and physical. The Bees on home field wasted no time as Zakary Brown pushed transition and scored with an outside shot to get the Bees up 1-0. Four minutes later, Ryan Swanson passed across the field to find Ayden Fraelle open as he sniped the top left corner. With momentum for SAU, the Bees executed a fast break goal with Cameron Washington finding Fraelle open on the doorstep to fake out the goalie, and grab another goal. After a Spartans timeout, the Bees struck again as they caught MBU with a slow substitution on defense and Jagger Shaddix took advantage running down the alley for a goal. That four-goal run put St. Ambrose up 4-0. In the final minute, Missouri Baptist found the back of the net with a 12-yard step down. SAU ended the quarter up 4-1.

To open up the second quarter, Eli Hahn picked up the ground ball on a failed MBU clear and pushed transition to find Fraelle open on crease where he snuck it by the goalie. Two minutes later, Fraelle found himself at the top of the box; he beat his defender going down the right alley to sting that top left corner. With SAU up 6-1, MBU aimed a comeback with an outside shot to find the bottom corner. St. Ambrose answered back with Shaddix beating his defender and muscling his way to the cage for a goal. Going goal-for-goal, the Spartans shortly followed up finding that bottom corner again. To end the half, Hahn pushed the fast break again to find Lachlan Hodge this time for the closing goal. That goal put the Bees up 8-3 to end the first half.

Before the half ended, St. Ambrose drew a penalty and was given a man-up opportunity. The Bees held the ball ending the time which elected to give them the ball to start the second half. SAU started with the ball and still man up, ran a play where Hodge found Washington down low to beat the goalie for a Bees goal. A minute later, Brown scored putting the ball top shelf on a transition play. The Spartans shortly followed it up with a goal sweeping up from below the cage and scoring high. At the nine-minute mark, it was MBU again as they swept across the middle and scored going off the goalkeeper's opposite hip. No one able to find the back of the net for the remaining nine minutes ending the quarter 10-5 in favor of the Bees. 

The Spartans opened up the fourth quarter with an early goal, but Fraelle followed it up with a goal on crease coming from Hodge feeding the ball. Man down, Brown pushed the transition and scored with ease as no one picked him up. Down 12-6, MBU was not going out without a fight as they swept across the cage and found that bottom corner again. The Bees answered back as Brown beat his defender and found Washington curling up field for a catch-and-shoot goal. The Spartans got one last goal before time expired to end the game 13-8 in favor of St. Ambrose.

In an electric semifinal game, Fraelle led the charge on offense scoring five goals. Brown followed him up with three goals while Shaddix and Washington each tallied in two, and Hodge notched in one. Dishing out dimes, Hodge assisted on three goals while Hahn created two. Swanson, Washington, and Brown each passed in an assist too.

Isaac Martinez, the Bee in goal, held it down making seven saves on the night. Defensively, it was Lucas Mytych who led the way causing four turnovers while Joe Campbell caused three. Joey Curzon, Dominic Della Vedova, Aidan Fergus and Hahn also stepped up, each causing one turnover. 

This win advances the Bees to the Heart Tournament championship game. St. Ambrose will battle it out against rival William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on Saturday for the conference title. This will be a battle of the No. 1 vs. No. 2 seed where the winner gets the title and automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Savannah, Ga.