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In his first appearance in a Lourdes uniform,
Darius Passley-Bennett (Wimbledon, England/Petchey Academy) scored three times and
N'Faly Diallo (Detroit, Mich./Mumford H.S.) handed out three assists as the Gray Wolves defeated Andrews 4-0 on Thursday afternoon at Wildcat Stadium.
"I thought this was a good performance today and we will take the win," head coach
Matt Johnson said after the match. "We know the level of play in the WHAC will be a challenge but we feel good about how we managed the ball today. Winning is always a good thing."
Passley-Bennett entered the match as a substitute midway through the first half and found the back of the net less than a minute later. Diallo found him at the top of the six where Passley-Bennett tapped the ball into the goal at the 24:25 mark.
Just 1:14 later, the duo connected again. Diallo sent in a cross from the left corner to Passley-Bennett, who flicked the ball far post to make it 2-0 Lourdes.
The Gray Wolves carried the two-goal lead into halftime, while holding the Cardinals without a shot attempt in the opening 45 minutes.
Lourdes added to the lead just 2:48 into the second half as Diallo sent another cross from the left end line into the box where
Farouk Amoo (South Holland, Ill./Thornwood H.S.) got a foot on the ball and scored for his third tally of the year.
With just 1:26 to play in the match,
Josh Varney (Brownstown, Mich./Woodhaven H.S.) dribbled through several Andrews defenders into the box and passed to Passley-Bennett who converted for the hat trick, the sixth in program history.
The Gray Wolf defense limited Andrews (2-3) to just one shot attempt in the match, a blast from 40 yards out that went high with less than 15 minutes to play in the contest.
Garrett Baxley (Trenton, Ohio/Edgewood H.S.) was credited with his first career shutout without having to make a save.
Lourdes tallied 34 shots in the contest, including 16 on goal. Christian Gutierrez made 12 saves for the Cardinals, including a save of a penalty kick in the middle of the second half. The Gray Wolves also had the only eight corner kick opportunities in the contest.
Lourdes (2-3) will return to the road on Monday afternoon, as the Gray Wolves travel to Portsmouth, Ohio to face Shawnee State. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. at the Shawnee Turf Field.
