Pride Drop Home Tilt with Missouri Baptist, 12-8

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Clarke Pride men's lacrosse team saw an early 2-0 lead disappear Thursday in a 12-8 loss against Missouri Baptist at Burrows Field.

Clarke (0-2, 0-2 KCAC) got things going early when senior attacker Conner Cole tallied two goals (11:31, 10:37) unassisted. The Spartans (2-2, 2-0) closed out the first quarter with two goals of its own (4:01, 0:24) to knot things up at 2-2.

Missouri Baptist remained aggressive on offense to start the second quarter, scoring goals at 12:50, 11:06 and 5:31 to jump out to a 5-2 lead. Tucker La Belle found the back of the net off a pass from Cole to trim the deficit to two at 5:07, but the Spartans answered with a goal of their own only 20 seconds later to go back up 6-3 before the half.

Following halftime, the Spartans recorded a seventh goal (12:28) go take their largest lead of the game (7-3) to that point, but the Pride stormed back with back-to-back goals from Cole at 10:43 (assisted by La Belle) and again at 4:25 (assisted by Kurt Springli) to bring things within two at 7-5. Missouri Baptist began to play with a sense of urgency and responded with a goal with only 17 seconds remaining in the quarter to go up three heading into the fourth.

Alex Scott gave the Spartans a four-point lead at 10:26, but CU marched down the field and saw Cole find Springli for a goal at 9:59. With rain and sleet starting to pour down, the Pride struggled to field the ball cleanly, leading to a few costly turnovers that Missouri Baptist was able to convert into goals at 7:30 and 5:55 to go up 11-6.

Cole scored his fifth goal of the game with 4:39 to play to bring the Pride within four (11-7), but the Spartans yet again answered with a goal over a minute later to go up five. Drew Dorenbush scored unassisted with 2:15 to play to put the Pride within four, but that was as close as CU could get before ultimately falling 12-8.

The Spartans were led in scoring by Noah Campbell and Scott with five apiece. Jaxon Haas and Matthew Lash each tallied a goal, as well. Cole's five goals led the Pride, with Springli, La Belle, and Dorenbush rounding out the scoring at one goal scored each.

Kendrick Scherer started and played in all 60 minutes for Clarke, collecting 11 saves along the way. The Spartans led the Pride in face offs won (18-8) and shots (36-22). The two programs tied in ground balls with 25.

The Pride will hit the road for the first time this season next Thursday when it travels to face Ottawa University on Mar. 24 at 7 p.m. CT.