Pride can't complete comeback in 14-9 road loss to Cornell
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - Continuing their non-conference slate with a trip to Cornell College, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team dropped a 14-9 game to the Rams on Saturday afternoon.
A rough start and finish to the game would lead to the five-goal loss as the Pride only managed two goals combined in the first and fourth quarters where Cornell scored four in the first and were able to thwart a CU comeback in the fourth with a seven-goal performance in the final period after gonig 30 minutes of game time only score three goals in the second and third quarters.
The middle of the game saw Clarke start their comeback with five goals in the second quarter following an Xavier Howard last second goal in the first where halftime would see the score tied at 6-6 behind two Justyse White goals and goals from Matt Archer, Jackson Michaels, and Saige Moran's goal with just over two minutes left would be the equalizer at the time.
Moran would score another goal in the third to give Clarke their first lead of the game after Aiden Gudenkauf tied the game again at 7-7 but the Pride would be held off the score sheet for over 11 minutes of the fourth quarter and in that time, the Rams scored six unanswered goals to go from down 8-7 entering the fourth to up 13-8 with unver 4:30 left to go in the game.
White, Moran, and Gudenkauf would tie for the team-high with two goals apiece as a pair of CC attackers had a hat trick or better, led by Charley Kobets' four-goal performance while Matt Norwood added a three-goal game as both Tyler Foster and Ash Hoelscher both had two-goal games for the Rams.
Jack Fritz had a season-high tying 18 saves on 32 shots on goal against as his counterpart, Thomas Cook, made 16 saves on the 25 Pride shots on goal as one of the main Cornell stistical advantages came at the faceoff dot as they won 18 of the 26 draws led by Hoelscher's 15-for-21 performance on the faceoff.
Clarke men's lacrosse will stay on the road for their next two games, starting in seven days when they travel to Fon du Lac, Wis. to matchup against Marian University Wisconsin on Saturday, Mar. 15 with a scheduled 3:00 p.m. CT opening faceoff.