Saturday afternoon in Davenport, Iowa, the Bees hosted a Heart of America Conference Tournament quarterfinal match against Culver-Stockton. Despite trailing in the first half, St. Ambrose fought back to win 13-12 in an overtime thriller. SAU advances to play No. 2 Benedictine in the semifinals.  

In this first round of playoffs, both teams came out fiery, looking to advance in postseason play. The Wildcats opened hot, scoring two quick ones to take an early 2-0 lead. The Bees were given a man-up opportunity and capitalized with Anabelle Brown making a pass to Morgan O'Malley for their first goal. C-SC answered right back with two goals to take a 4-1 lead. Finding momentum late in the first, SAU scored two. First, one came from Katie McGlynn dodging past her defender and taking it to goal. Raegan Dotterer followed this up with a striking free-position shot goal. That final goal ended the first period 4-3 with the Bees trailing. 

C-SC played fast and scored three goals to open up the second. Trailing 7-3, Brown dodged past her defenders and scored a big goal for the Bees. Five minutes later, it was Brown again scoring on a free-position shot to bring the Bees within two. In the last minute, the Wildcats scored to take an 8-5 lead into halftime. 

In an exciting second half, it was all Bees to start the third quarter going on a three-goal run. The run started with Cailey Kramer winning the draw control and taking it all the way to score in the first 10 seconds of play. Less than a minute later, Karsen Jummati won the draw control and passed it to McGlynn open for a shot and goal. Down by one, it was McGlynn again for the goal to tie up 8-8 while she dodged past her defender and scored with ease.

C-SC put an end to the SAU run by notching in two to take a 10-8 lead. Late in the third quarter, Brown passed it to Jummati on crease for a shot and goal to bring the lead within one. With 10 seconds left in the third, the Bees took advantage of another man-up opportunity with McGlynn passing it to Brown for the goal. That goal tied the game 10-10 going into the final quarter. 

St. Ambrose started the fourth quarter man up, and took advantage, scoring within the first 20 seconds as McGlynn took it to the goal to give SAU its first lead of the game at 11-10. Shortly after, SAU drew a penalty and was man down; but the Bees took the ball back and Brown found O'Malley open for the man-down goal. Four minutes later, Culver-Stockton scored to narrow the Bees lead. At the 7:28 mark, the Wildcats scored again to tie the game 12-12. With neither team able to find the back of the net for the last seven minutes, regular time concluded and the Bees headed into overtime. 

In overtime, it was Brown who had the open draw control. She ran it down the field and found McGlynn open, and it was McGlynn who shot and scored to put it away for the Bees. The Bees won 13-12 with the overtime goal sending them to the semifinals. 

In this playoff win, McGlynn led the way with five goals while Brown notched in three. O'Malley followed it up with two and Dotterer, Kramer, and Jummati each scored one. Brown was creating plays all day dishing out four assists while McGlynn and Jummati each passed one. 

In the cage for SAU was Saige Carlton as she made six saves on the day. Leading the defense was Abby Taaffe causing three turnovers and picking up five ground balls. Additionally, creating havoc on defense was Kramer, McGlynn, and O'Malley causing two; while Delaney Cunningham, Jummati, Brown, and Carlton each caused one. 

This win makes St. Ambrose 7-6 on the year and advances the team in the postseason. SAU will battle the top-seed Benedictine on Wednesday in Atchison, Kan.