St. Ambrose used a nine-goal fourth quarter to pull away from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Wednesday night in Davenport in their season opener. The Bees (1-0) took the victory 20-14 over the Eagles (0-1) at the St. Vincent's Athletic Complex. 

After back-to-back goals from Megan Feeney of UW-Lacrosse gave the visitors a 13-12 lead with 12:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, SAU rattled off eight straight goals for a commanding 20-13 score with 2:40 to go. Anabelle Brown notched the tying goal, and Audrey Warner scored three, Sarah Diehl scored twice, and Lauren Hoesly and Maddie Wiltrout each had one during the 8-0 run for the Bees. The Eagles would add one more goal to account for the final tally. 

UW-Lacrosse jumped out to a two-goal lead, but St. Ambrose responded with three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead with 7:41 left in the first quarter. The teams traded goals to close out the period, with the Bees up 4-3 heading into the start of the second. SAU would increase their lead to three after goals from Wiltrout and Diehl to start the second quarter, but UWL scored two straight of their own to make it a one-score game. The Bees would go on another two-goal run to take an 8-5 lead with 2:24 left before halftime. Abigail Steigauf scored for the Eagles with 35 seconds remaining, but the Bees had an answer as Hoesly scored with 1 second left to give SAU a 9-6 halftime lead. 

The visitors came out strong after the half, netting the first three goals of the quarter to tie the game up at nine. The teams traded goals from there, with Diehl scoring the only two goals for the Bees in the period. The quarter ended 11-all, leading to the explosive nine-goal fourth quarter for SAU. 

Warner finished with a game-high seven goals. Diehl scored five, Wiltrout four, Hoesly three, and Brown had one. Mackenzie Zions, Morgan Curzon, and Hoesly each had two assists. Maggie Samson had five saves in net, with Katie Burr also making an appearance in goal for the Bees. 

St. Ambrose is back at home on Saturday, taking on Culver-Stockton College at 1 p.m.   

Videos courtesy of SAUtv

Audrey Warner gets the Bees on the scoreboard. 

Audrey Warner makes it 2-2. 

Maddie Wiltrout gives SAU a 3-2 lead. 

Lauren Hoesly finds Maddie Wiltrout for a 4-3 lead. 

Maddie Wiltrout makes it 5-3 SAU. 

Morgan Curzon finds Sarah Diehl for the score. 

Lauren Hoesly makes it 8-5 SAU.