Lourdes jumped out to a quick lead on Monday evening and defeated Cleary 15-9 at Lake Trust Stadium in Howell, Mich. for the Gray Wolves' fourth victory in their last five outings.
 
With the win, Lourdes returns to the .500 mark overall and moves into a tie for third place in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference standings heading into the final two games of the regular season.
 
"This was a team effort," head coach Alyssa Shaver said following the win.  "We knew this would be a very mental game for us, so the energy we brought to the field carried over into how we played."
 
Hannah Merrick (South Lyon, Mich./East H.S.) put the Gray Wolves in front just 2:37 into the contest and Bella D'Arcy (Hartland, Mich./Hartland H.S.) followed 20 seconds later.  Anna Zofchak (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover H.S.) added a goal less than seven minutes into the contest making it 3-0, and Lourdes would not look back.
 
Cleary tallied a pair of goals 17 seconds apart to pull within one, 3-2, but Claire Austin (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston H.S.) stopped the run with her first of two goals on the night.
 
The Cougars were within two, 6-4, heading into the final five minutes of the opening half before the Gray Wolves closed with the final three goals of the stanza to build a five-goal lead at the break.  Merrick scored her third of the half while Emiliana Taylor (Granger, Ind./Saint Joseph H.S.) and Brianna Nantz (Brighton, Mich./Brighton H.S.) both found the back of the cage as well.
 
Cleary (7-9, 4-4 WHAC) opened the second half with three straight goals to pull within two, but Ashley Hunt's (Cape May, N.J./Lower Cape May H.S.) stopped the run before Merrick added her fourth tally of the game.
 
The Gray Wolves were leading 12-9 with just under five minutes to play when the D'Arcy scored two more goals and Austin added another to close out the contest.
 
Lourdes outshot Cleary 30-24 for the evening and held a 28-21 advantage in ground balls.  Jacque Pappadakes (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River H.S.) made 10 saves in goal for the Gray Wolves while Tiara Reed (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne H.S.) had seven draw controls and six ground balls.
 
Jordan Bloch scored six times to pace the Cougars while Abby Coyne made two saves and Brooke Thomas made five more stops in relief.
 
Lourdes (8-8, 5-2) closes out the road portion of the regular season on Wednesday evening, traveling to Adrian, Mich. to battle 10^th-ranked Siena Heights.  The opening draw is set for 7 p.m. at O'Loughlin Stadium.