Upcoming in Gray Wolves Soccer: Lourdes wraps up the first half of the 2020 men's soccer season on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves welcome Rochester (Mich.) to Wildcat Stadium for a Halloween matinee.  Lourdes looks to conclude the fall portion of the slate by moving over the .500 mark with a victory.

Head Coach Matt Johnson: Matt Johnson took over as the second head coach in program's history prior to the 2019 season.  Johnson sports an 85-100-8 (.461) record overall in his 11th season as a men's collegiate soccer coach and has a 10-16 (.385) mark in his second year at Lourdes.

Series Notes: Lourdes holds a 2-1 series advantage all-time against Rochester (Mich.) dating back to Sept. 23, 2017.  The road team has won all three contests in the series.  The Gray Wolves scored a 3-0 win in Pontiac, Mich. in the last meeting on Oct. 5, 2019.  The only previous time Rochester has visited Wildcat Stadium the Warriors notched a 3-2 win in overtime during the 2018 campaign.

Wrapping Up Last Week: Robert Pereznegron was credited with the match-winning goal with just 2:38 remaining last Saturday (Oct. 24) as Lourdes defeated Concordia (Mich.) 2-1 on the road in Ann Arbor, Mich.  Brendon Long put Lourdes in front 1-0 in the eighth minute with Andris Klempert earning the assist before the Cardinals tied it midway through the first half.  Ali Chokr made three saves in goal in the win.

Scouting Rochester (Mich.): The Warriors are still looking for their first victory of the season after falling 6-2 at home against Lawrence Tech last Friday afternoon (Oct. 23).  Donnell Grierson and Brian Mendoza each have scored this season for Rochester while Adrain Lopez and Alex Popa have drawn assists.  Chris Sayles has played every minute in goal, sporting a 3.33 goals against average and a .688 save percentage.

Another Honor for Long: Brendon Long earned his second WHAC Player of the Week honor of the season this past week.  Long was named the Defensive Player of the Week after earning Offensive Player of the Week accolades back on Sept. 28.  The fifth-year senior scored a goal and led the Gray Wolf defense which limited Concordia (Mich.) to just five total shot attempts in the 2-1 win last Saturday.

A to Return to .500: With the win against Concordia (Mich.), Lourdes moved back to the .500 mark with a 4-4 overall record.  This is the latest the Gray Wolves have been at .500 since having a 6-6-1 after 13 matches during the 2016 season.

First Career Match Winner: Robert Pereznegron's match-winning goal against the Cardinals was the first of his career.  The junior did not have a collegiate goal until this year and his second tally of the season gave Lourdes the victory.

Moving Up Single Season Charts: Just eight matches into the 2020 season, this year's Lourdes squad already ranks fifth in program history with 14 goals and 11 assists along with 39 total points.  The two shutouts also are tied for fifth for a single season.

Chokr Matches School Shutout Mark: Ali Chokr tied the Lourdes record with his seventh career shutout against Cornerstone earlier this fall, matching the mark set by Jose Cedillo (2015-2017).  Chokr had two clean sheets as a freshman, three last year, and already has a pair in four starts this season.

Elsewhere on the All-Time Charts: Ali Chokr also ranks second in program history in minutes played in goal, saves, and goals against average.  Chokr enters this week's action with 155 career saves, 19 shy of Jose Cedillo's (2015-2017) mark of 174, and his 1.94 career goals against average just trails Cedillo's all-time mark of 1.69.  Chokr is also approximately 460 minutes shy of Cedillo's minutes played mark of 3192:12.
 
Moving Into the Top-10: With his goal against Concordia (Mich.), Brendon Long has joined teammates Farouk Amoo and Savio Adams in a tie for eighth all-time in scoring along with Isamnia Coehn (2016).  The quartet have all scored six career goals with the Gray Wolves.  

Lots of Experience: Olawole Ogunsanya has moved into second place in program history having appeared in 50 career matches.  He trails only Reece Riccardi (2016-2019), who appeared in 57 matches, on the Gray Wolves' all-time list.  Jose Silveira has moved into a tie for sixth all-time for the Gray Wolves, having stepped onto the pitch 46 times for Lourdes, matching Judah Goodridge's (2015-2017) total.  Brendon Long just past Goodridge for second place all-time at Lourdes having made 42 career starts.  Riccardi holds the starts record as well with 48.

A Look Ahead to Spring: When the Gray Wolves resume play in the spring, they will host Indiana Tech and Madonna in WHAC play while traveling to Northwestern Ohio, Cleary, and Aquinas.  Lourdes would also travel to Michigan-Dearborn if they resume athletic competition by March. 

A Different Look This Season: Due to COVID-19, five schools in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference have opted to not play soccer this fall, moving all of their matches to the spring.  The remaining seven league schools will play a split season, competing in five WHAC matches in the fall and six in the spring.  The WHAC tournament and NAIA National Championships will take place in the spring.

Team Captains: Lourdes has tri-captains for the 2020 season.  Serving in the Gray Wolves' leadership role are seniors Savio Adams and Jose Silveira along with junior Cameron Poslaiko.  All three are first time captains for Lourdes.

This and That: Lourdes has had 26 different players step foot on the pitch already this year ... 18 different players have drawn a starting assignment ... after five overtime matches in 2019, Lourdes has yet to play more than 90 minutes this season.