Pride's slow start leads to 15-8 loss at St. Ambrose

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Getting back on the road for their fifth Heart of America Athletic Conference matchup of the season, the Clarke University men's lacrosse team fell 15-8 to St. Ambrose University on Wednesday afternoon.

The Fighting Bees came out early with a goal less than 90 seconds into the contest when Ryan Swanson converted the first goal of the game from an assist by Cameron Washington that started the home team on an 8-0 start over the first quarter and eight minutes.

Clarke got their first goal on the board with 4:30 left in the second quarter when Matt Warmowski scored his first of a pair of goals on a season-high three-point game for the freshman to record back-to-back two-goal games for the first time in his career.

The first half ended 10-2 in favor of St. Ambrose as CU's Tyler Fleming scored his first goal of the game with 1:14 left in the second to start his fifth game of three or more goals in the first eight games of his collegiate career.

The Pride were able to outscore SAU 6-5 in the second half to finish the game at the 15-8 final with the goals in that second 30-minute stretch coming by way of a third quarter goal from Fleming, three fourth quarter goals from Xavier Howard, and the final goals of the game from Warmowski and Fleming with Kaden Pemberton and Howard assisting on a goal each in that final frame.

Josh Pote had a strong game at the faceoff dot, winning 22 of the 28 draws in the game to outduel a trio of Fighting Bees over the majority of the game with the goalie tandem of Jack Fritz and Kiereek Mcleod split the game in half as Fritz made seven saves in the first half with Mcleod saving three shots in the second half.

Clarke men's lacrosse will return home this Saturday when they host Columbia College for another Heart matchup at Burrows Field with a 3:00 p.m. CT scheduled opening faceoff between the Pride and Cougars.