Pride open 2024 with shutout win at Concordia Chicago

CHICAGO, Ill. - Getting their 2024 season start with a road game, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team earned a 9-0 shutout victory over Concordia University Chicago on Tuesday evening.

Both teams took a bit to get any kind of offense generated as the first Pride goal came at the 8:23 mark when Matt Archer scored off of a Doug Powless assist to jump out to their 1-0 lead.

Archer would be the scoring star for CU on the night as he would finish with six goals, one more goal than he finished with all of the 2023 season over 12 games, and added an assist to start his season with a seven-point performance.

The other goal scorers for the Pride were Ryder Chaba and Drew Dorenbush as Chaba finished with two goals and Dorenbush scored the game's final goal in the fourth quarter with each also adding an assist on one of Archer's goals.

The Cougars weren't without their own offensive opportunities as they took 13 shots in total in the game but only five ended up on net with Clarke goalie Jack Fritz up to the task on each attempt making all five saves for the shutout, the first in program history.

Clarke men's lacross will remain on the road for the rest of the month of February as they'll next play an exhibition contest against Beloit College on Feb. 17 before getting back to regular season action on Feb. 24 when they travel to Fremont, Neb. to face Midland University for a scheduled 1:00 p.m. CT opening faceoff.