Pride dominate second half in 16-3 win over Missouri Valley

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Hosting their first home game inside of their 2024 Heart of America Athletic Conference schedule, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team ran away with a 16-3 victory over Missouri Valley College on Saturday afternoon.

A slow start offensively for the Pride saw MVC score the first goal of the game and come back from down 3-1 to tie it at 3-3 as it would stay tied until just under six minutes to go in the second quarter before Doug Powless, Alex Beard, and Ryder Chaba netted three-straight goals for CU to make it 6-3 at the half.

That would begin a stretch of 13-straight goals for Clarke as both the third and fourth quarters would be 5-0 advantages for the home team that included two goals apiece from Justyse White, Matt Archer, Chaba, and Powless as Drew Dorenbush scored his second goal of the season and Reece Rubino scored his first career goal to make it 14-3 in the fourth.

Archer finished as the game's leading scorer with four goals and three assists for his third game of the season with seven or more points scored as Powless added four goals and two assists to tie his season-high point total and set a new season-high in goals.

The Pride dominated most team stat categories starting with an 18-for-21 record on faceoffs as Abraham Agundez won every faceoff in the first half on his way to the 85.7 percent mark for the game as CU also outshot the Vikings 75-15, and committed 16 fewer turnovers than MVC.

Clarke men's lacrosse will be on the road for their next two games starting with another Heart matchup as they'll travel to Atchison, Kan. for a 5:00 p.m. CT matchup against Benedictine College on Thursday, Mar. 28.