St. Ambrose got a little payback on Friday night in Bourbonnais, Ill.

The Bees avenged an early-season loss and won 1-0 over Olivet Nazarene at the Snowbarger Complex to move on to the CCAC tournament semifinals. Kaitlyn Brunson scored in the 83rd minute, and the SAU defense got their ninth shutout of the year to keep SAU's season going. This is the second straight season that SAU has defeated Olivet in the CCAC quarterfinals. 

St. Ambrose got the first chance of the night, but Riley Garcia's shot went wide in the 3rd minute. Brunson and Taylor DeSplinter followed with shots of their own that also went wide in the 10th and 12th minutes. Rachel Willette was called into action in the 20th minute, making a stop on ONU's Emily Greene. Abigail Goff had the only shots on target for SAU in the first half, with both coming late in the frame as the teams would be scoreless after the first 45. 

The Bees would get two early chances coming out of the break - Mary Evans forced a save by the Tigers goalie in the 51st minute, and Keeli Frerichs had her shot blocked in the 55th. Haley Salander put a header on net in the 61st minute, but the opportunity was stopped by Samantha Tuuk. Willette turned away another Olivet shot in the 68th minute to keep the teams even.

In the 83rd minute, DeSplinter booted a ball into the box. It was cleared away by the Tigers, but only to just outside the 18 where Brunson was waiting. Brunson collected the ball and placed a shot into the lower-left corner to give St. Ambrose a 1-0 lead with seven minutes remaining. The Bees held on from there with Willette making her fourth and final save of the night in the 88th minute to secure the win. 

SAU's backline of Erin Smothers, Salander, Adriane Latham, and Natalie Miller, along with the midfield duo of Evans and Morgan Wahlen, played the full 90 minutes.

St. Ambrose will host the University of St. Francis (Ill.) on November 9th in the CCAC tournament semifinals at 6 p.m.. The Fighting Saints upset the No. 1 seed, Judson University, in penalties. The Bees won the regular-season matchup against USF, 3-0 in October.