Pride battle but come up short in 11-6 loss to St. Ambrose

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In their final game of the 2024 regular season, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team was unable to close the regular season on a high note as St. Ambrose University came away with an 11-6 win on Saturday night.

Taking an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter, the Pride would then surrender five of the next six goals in the game for the Fighting Bees to head to halftime with a 5-3 lead before an even 1-1 third quarter kept it at a two-goal game heading into the fourth quarter.

That would be where SAU would take command, outscoring Clarke 5-2 in the final period to run away with the game startgin with a 5-0 run to start the period with their first goal coming less than a minute into the fourth before CU would answer with the last two goals of the game, still having five minutes left and an 11-6 game but couldn't muster any more offense beyond that.

Zach Priami of St. Ambrose led all players with four goals in the game as three others had two goals with two of his teammates in Makaile Shaddix and Isaiah Hahn both scoring twice then Pride defenseman Dominick Knazur being the last with two goals, scoring two of the first four CU tallies in the game.

A big part of the Pride staying within striking distance in Saturday night's contest was the performance from goalie Jack Fritz, who made 22 saves on 33 shots faced for his third-highest save total in his two-year career so far at Clarke and his best save percentage (66.7%) in any of his five 20-save games in that period.

With the regular season finished, Clarke men's lacrosse will now prepare for the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed of the four-team field as they will face off against regular season champion Benedictine College on Wednesday, Apr. 24 for a 6:00 p.m. CT opening faceoff in Atchison, Kan.