Yesterday evening in Joliet, Ill., St. Ambrose matched up hand-and-hand with conference foe, St. Francis at Busey Bank Field. It was even for both sides throughout, until SAU had a second half offensive push to upend the Fighting Saints 2-0 to move ahead in conference standings. The Bees scored their first goal in the 79th minute as the Bees doubled their lead only 36 seconds later to put away USF and take the conference victory. This win ups the Bees to 8-5-2 overall and 6-2 in conference play with only three regular-season conference games of the year left to play.

The match seemed to be dominated by St. Ambrose as they out shot St. Francis 29-13, but the Saints dug in their heels defensively and pushed off the Bees again and again. On many occasions, the Saints defenders cleared scoring opportunities after the Bees pulled the goalie off her line.

It was a quick start for St. Ambrose as at the 2:13 mark, the Bees registered their first corner kick. This corner lead to a series of shots on goal and corner kicks to follow. The Saints defenders would not give in to the tenacious St. Ambrose offensive power. For the next two minutes of the match, the Bees peppered the St. Francis defense.

At the 19:41 mark, USF finally registered the first corner for the Saints which lead to Grace Kuchar making a save in net. The Bees would go on to own the remanding eight chances late in the half. 

During the half time break, SAU moved some pieces around and picked up right where they left off in the first half.

It was all St. Ambrose possession until the 64th minute when the Saints charged up the field to create a chance of their own. The Bees' defense would deny any opportunities for USF.

Things would seem to end as a tie until Kaitlyn Brunson dribbled through a few defenders to set herself up for a nice scoring opportunity. The senior placed a shot into the corner of the net to break the tie and give the Bees a 1-0 lead.

SAU was not finished as Taylor DeSplinter tucked the ball just under the goal keeper's reach to double the lead and give St. Ambrose some breathing room.

The Bees threatened more later on in the half, but St. Francis had an opportunity on net themselves. It was Kuchar again with the terrific save to earn a shutout for the team.

The 2-0 final decision showed Mia Hefner with four of her eight shots on goal and Brunson with six of her eight shots on net. 

Sophia Roszkowski, Jenna Horst, and DeSplinter all had one shot on net for St. Ambrose.

Kuchar finished all 90 minutes in net and grabbed four saves.