Men's Lacrosse took care of business Wednesday evening at home.
The (RV) Ravens knocked off the Clarke University Pride, 18-5, in the semifinals of the Heart Conference Tournament in Atchison.
The Ravens defeated the Pride 23-1 during the regular season, but Clarke showed up ready to give the Ravens a game. After Brayden Hope scored the opening goal of the game, the Pride answered to tie it 1-1.
Mac Postel Jr. scored to put the Ravens up 2-1 but again Clarke answered to level the score. The Ravens finally got some breathing room, taking a 4-2 lead after one quarter of play.
A 4-1 second quarter gave the Ravens more space heading into halftime with an 8-3 lead.
Coming out of halftime, Clarke scored the opening goal of the second half to cut the Ravens lead to 8-4, but then the Ravens outscored the Pride 7-0 the remainder of the third quarter to take full control of the game and went on to win by the 13-goal margin.
The defense helped set the tone after the Pride kept things close in the early moments. The Ravens forced 38 turnovers by the Pride and allowed just 5 clears on 24 attempts. The teams were even with 13 faceoffs won, but the Ravens had just 23 turnovers and outshot the Pride 34-12 on shots on goal.
Carson Huerter set a new Ravens record with his 76th career caused turnover, passing Drew Doran's previous record of 75, set in the 2022-23 seasons.
Jack Northrup led the Ravens with 4 caused turnovers Wednesday evening against the Pride.
Postel had a game-high 5 goals and added 2 assists, and Joseph Bianchi also scored 5 goals. Mason Eberle scored 4 goals and had 2 assists, and Liam Waldron notched 2 goals and 2 assists while also causing 2 turnovers.
Next up for the Ravens (11-4) is a trip to the Heart of America Tournament Championship game against the (5) William Penn Statesmen. That game will be back on Legacy Field thanks to the Ravens 8-7 win in the regular season finale to clinch the Heart Regular Season Championship. The game is currently scheduled to be played at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 27 in Atchison.
