DAVENPORT, Iowa – Amber Davis and Taylor Henning each scored their first collegiate goal as Western Illinois downed St. Ambrose, 4-1, on Sunday, Sept. 12.

"We played very well against a tough, well coached team today," said assistant coach Jason Cherry. "We rotated a lot of players in today and everyone played hard in giving us quality minutes."

The Fighting Leathernecks (2-3-2) struck first when Jordan Spaciel drew a foul inside the box, resulting in a penalty kick, which Laura Lins converted in the 11th minute.

"Taking a penalty kick is a lot more mental than it is physical," said Lins. "It's really all about staying calm and making sure your shot is low and on target and that's the approach I took on my shot."

Western would extend its lead to 2-0 when Jill Kevorkian found the back of the net in the 35th minute. Kevorkian scored when Davis sent a cross to the right side of the box for the assist, Jenny Green was also credited with an assist on the play after sending a long ball in to Davis from the Leatherneck's defensive half.

"I just did what coach tells us to do all the time and that's to finish our runs," Kevorkian said. "I figured if I finished my run I might find myself in a position to score and Amber sent in a good ball for me to score on."

The Queen Bees (3-3-0) would get a goal back when Erin Dierickx got her head on a corner kick in the 36th minute to cut Western's lead to 2-1.

The Leathernecks would again grab a two-goal lead when Davis gathered a pass from Ali Smyth and dribbled past the goalkeeper to make it 3-1 in the 41st minute.

"It felt great to get my first goal today," Davis said. "I was just happy to be able to help us win. Jill made a great run on the previous goal and it ended up being a really easy pass for me to make to her."

Western Illinois would strike once more, this time in the second half, when Henning took a shot from 30 yards out that went over the goalkeeper's head in the 67th minute to make the final score 4-1.

"I'd been watching their goalkeeper the whole match and noticed she was playing off her line when our forwards checked back to the ball," Henning said.

Laura Atkinson (1-2-2) picked up her first win of the season by making two saves in the match. The Leathernecks held a 20 to four advantage in shots, including a 13 to three edge in shots on goal.

Kelly Diershow led all Western Illinois players with four shots, including two shots on goal. Katie Condon and Spaciel each recorded three shots total and two on target.