Lourdes kicked off the 2021 season on Wednesday afternoon, battling Rio Grande to a 1-1 double-overtime tie at Chillicothe High School in Chillicothe, Ohio.
 
The draw is the seventh in the school's history and first in a season opener since 2015 when Lourdes battled Rochester (Mich.) to a scoreless tie in the program's debut.
 
"This was a hard-fought contest today," head coach Jackie Phillips said afterwards.  "I was pleased with how the team responded after conceding an early goal."
 
Rio Grande (0-1-1) struck first just 20 seconds into the contest as Isabel Ruff scored from the left corner of the 18 with Kotomi Kaneshima drawing the assist. 
 
The Gray Wolves found the equalizer just 12 minutes later as Abigail Mann (Toledo, Ohio/Southview H.S.) scored from the top of the box.  The goal was the 11^th of her career, third most all-time at Lourdes.  Mann also moved into third place along with 28 career points.
 
The match stayed deadlocked heading into intermission and then through the second 45-minute stanza.  Lourdes held an 11-6 shot advantage through regulation and had two more in the first overtime period.  The Red Storm had all three chances in the final 10 minutes as the Gray Wolves finished the match with a 13-10 shot edge.
 
Lily Yoder (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) played the first half in goal for Lourdes while Emmy Rodger (Romeo, Mich./Romeo H.S.) made four saves over the final 65 minutes of action.  Morgan Nutter made four stops for Rio Grande while going the distance between the posts.
 
Lourdes (0-0-1) returns to action on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. to face Point Park.  Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.