Pride open the 2025 season strong with big win over Augustana
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Able to get some pleasant weather in late February to host their 2025 season opener at Burrows Field, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team came out of the gates hot in a 22-7 win over Augustana College on Sunday evening.
The 22 goals ties a program record for goals scored in a game that was set in the 2020 shortened season when the Pride earned a 22-5 win over Cleary on Feb. 28 as nine different CU players found the back of the net including six players finishing with multi-goal games and four recording a hat trick or better.
The Pride used a 7-0 first quarter to establish their style of play as sophomore transfer Xavier Howard made a strong first impression in front of the CU faithful recording four of his nine points in the opening 15 minutes including assisting on the game's first goal scored by senior Justyse White then producing three goals of his own, two unassisted and one off of a Matt Archer assist.
Howard would finish with six goals, five in the first half, and three assists in his first game in navy and gold while White finished with a hat trick and Archer had the second-most points on the team behind Howard with a six-point game at two goals and four assists.
Clarke was dominant on the faceoff all game as Abraham Agundez and Josh Pote only lost a combined four faceoffs out of the 33 they took with Agundez going 16-for-18 and Pote finishing at 13-for-15 as Agundez added a goal and assist to have more points through one game than he did all of the 2024 season.
Goalie Jack Fritz had a strong day in net for the Pride, making nine saves and allowing just three goals in just over 49 minutes in the crease as the 19-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter allowed head coach Tucker La Belle to give graduate transfer Jake Weller to get his first action for Clarke as he would play nearly 11 minutes of the final period.
The deep attack unit for CU saw veterans Alex Beard, Aiden Gudenkauf, and Henry La Belle all had multi-point games with Beard scoring a career-high two goals, Gudenkauf scoring a goal and adding two assists, then La Belle adding two helpers.
Along with those veteran attackers, a trio of freshman had strong collegiate debuts with Jackson Michaels and Saige Moran both scoring three goals as Michaels added an assist then Isaac Margala scored his first career collegiate goal with the first goal in the fourth quarter.
Clarke men's lacrosse will head into a five-game road stretch over the next two-plus weeks as their next game will be on Saturday, Mar. 1 when they travel to Madison, Wis. to face Edgewood College for a 12:00 p.m. scheduled opening faceoff.