Wednesday night, the Bees traveled to St. Louis, Mo., to take on Missouri Baptist University. SAU battled for all 60 minutes and came out with a 13-9 victory moving to 2-1 in conference play.

With the recent Heart of America conference rankings released, the Bees were ranked sixth while the Spartans were ranked fourth. St. Ambrose came to make a statement and succeeded. 

In a tightly-matched first quarter, the Bees scored the opening goal with Lachlan Hodge finding the back of the net. The Spartans answered right back with two goals which gave them a 2-1 lead. The Bees fought back and ended the run with a Ryan Swanson goal late in the first. The Spartans exchanged goals 10 seconds later to give them the lead by one. With 10 seconds left in the first quarter, the Bees scored on a man-up play coming from Ayden Fraelle, assisted by Swanson, to tie it up 3-3. 

MBU opened up the second quarter with a goal to take the lead by one. Swanson answered back for the Bees with two goals of his own with assists coming from Cameron Washington and Fraelle. The Spartans followed the scoring up with a quick two goals taking the 6-5 lead. With less than a minute left in the half, Hodge found the back of the net again with the Swanson assist to tie it up 6-6 at halftime.

Coming out of halftime the Spartans switched goalies, but could not find an answer to the Bees with two goals to open up the half. The first goal came from Zakary Brown on a man up opportunity where he was able to find the bottom corner with the feed coming from Fraelle. Anthony Lyons followed it up with the second goal for SAU, dodging through the defense and taking it himself for one. The Spartans stopped the scoring with a goal of their own, with four minutes left in the quarter. St. Ambrose striked again with Swanson dodging down the right alley to find the back of the net on a man-up opportunity. 

The Bees went into the fourth quarter up 9-7 with momentum on their side. They kept the goals rolling with two to start the quarter. First goal coming from Washington running past his defender at X, and putting the ball right past the goalie. Hodge followed it up with a fastbreak goal putting the ball low and away for a goal. MBU put an end to the Bees momentum with a goal making the score 11-8 in favor of St. Ambrose. SAU bounced back with a Washington goal coming from a Brown pass. The Spartans scored again, but Lyons ended the game with one more for the Bees taking the 13-9 win. 

Swanson led the charge for the Bees win with four goals and two assists. St. Ambrose had multiple goal scorers on the day with Hodge notching in a hat trick; Washington and Lyons both punching in two while Brown and Fraelle each notching one in. The Bees were playing team ball with half the goals being assisted; Swanson and Fraelle assisting on two goals each while Brown and Washington each getting one.

Isaac Martinez was the Bee in the cage for the day making 13 saves. Multiple defenders causing turnovers lead to a great defensive game; Lucas Mytych (2), Joe Campbell (3), Aidan Fergus (3), and Dominic Della Vedova and Eli Hahn itching causing one.

The Bees now 2-6 on the year and 2-1 in conference keep climbing up the conference rankings. St. Ambrose looks to keep rolling with another on the road conference matchup against Ottawa University on Saturday.