After not playing at home all of last season due to COVID-19, Lourdes opened the 2021 campaign at home on Thursday evening, defeating Mount Vernon Nazarene 12-4 at Wildcat Stadium.
 
"It was great to get back onto the field for the first time in over a year," head coach Patrick Yannarelli said afterwards.  "It was our first game at home in over two years and we have a bunch of guys on the team who haven't played in a while, so we are very happy with the way the game turned out.  We are really looking forward to getting back to practice."
 
The Gray Wolves held a decisive 62-23 shot advantage for the night and jumped out to a 4-0 lead midway through the second quarter behind a pair of goals by Jonny Thomson (Newmarket, Ont./Everest Academy), who scored three times on the day in his collegiate debut.
 
Mount Vernon Nazarene (1-3) found the back of the cage before halftime and added two goals early in the third period to pull within one.  Lourdes responded with eight unanswered goals, including six to end the quarter, before the Cougars added one final tally with eight seconds to play in the game.
 
Drew Gilhooly (Livonia, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central H.S.) tallied two goals and added three assists while Cory Campbell (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook H.S.) added two tallies and a helper.  Tyler Pezzot (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek H.S.), Nick Johnson (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.), Jake Noel (Knoxville, Tenn./William Blount H.S.), Chad Causley (Clinton Township, Mich./L'Anse Creuse H.S.), and Kyle Schiel (Toledo, Ohio/Southview H.S.) each found the back of the cage as well.
 
Tyler Queen (Odenton, Md./Arundel H.S.) made nine saves in goal for the Gray Wolves while Jared Duncan (Grandville, Mich./Grandville H.S.) made three stops in the final 10 minutes of action. 
 
Noel won 7-of-11 faceoffs and had a team-high seven ground balls while Johnson added six ground balls.
 
Matt Quire tallied three goals to lead Mount Vernon Nazarene while Ryan Hensley made 21 saves.
 
Lourdes (1-0) will head to Montreat, N.C. on Sunday afternoon to face Montreat.  The opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m. at Howard Fisher Memorial Field.