The Lourdes university women's lacrosse team saw its two-game winning streak end on Wednesday evening as it dropped a hard-fought 12-8 decision to Concordia in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference action at Wildcat Stadium.
 
Lourdes found itself in an early hole, falling behind 5-0 with 15:20 still remaining in the first half.
 
Hannah Merrick (South Lyon, Mich./East) gave the Gray Wolves life, netting back-to-back goals over the next 2:05 of play, cutting the deficit to 5-2 with 13:15 left in the first half.
 
Emiliana Taylor (Grainger, Ind./Saint Joseph) helped Lourdes continue to chip away at the Concordia (9-3, 4-2 WHAC) lead as she followed up Merrick's goal with a successful shot at the 12:38 mark of the first half to get Lourdes within 5-3 and force a Cardinal timeout.
 
Concordia was able to slow the Gray Wolf momentum late in the half, scoring with 23 seconds left in the first stanza to stretch its lead to 6-3 at the intermission.
 
Taylor picked up where she left on in the first half to open the second period, scoring the first two goals of the half to get Lourdes within 6-5.
 
Concordia would answer with a goal of their own before Merrick once again scored and kept the lead to just one goal at 7-6.
 
After the Cardinals added two more to their lead, Anna Zofchak (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) found Brianna Nantz (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) for her 14^th goal of the season before Claire Austin (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) capitalized on a shot to cut the lead to 9-8 with 12:18 left in the contest.
 
The Cardinal offense found breathing room, scoring three times late in the contest to seal the 12-8 victory.
 
Merrick and Taylor paced the Gray Wolf offense with three goals each. Tiara Reed (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) made her presence known on the defensive end of the field, causing nine turnovers. She also picked up eight ground balls for Lourdes.
 
Jacque Pappadakes (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) posted eight saves as she went the distance in the cage for the Gray Wolves.
 
Lourdes (6-8, 3-2 WHAC) will begin a three-game road trip on Saturday as they travel to Bethel (Ind.) for a 12 p.m. conference matchup at Morey Field.