Lourdes stayed in the hunt for one of the final Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament berths on Wednesday evening, taking to the road and defeating Cleary 2-1 at Lake Trust Stadium in Howell, Mich.
 
"This was a difficult game for us," head coach Matt Johnson said afterwards.  "We were playing into a pretty stiff wind in the first half and had trouble establishing much rhythm.  I thought we showed great resilience after going behind."
 
Cleary (3-10-4, 1-7-2 WHAC) took the lead early in the first half.  Lesman Morazan scored on a free kick at the 15:22 mark to put the Cougars in front.
 
The Gray Wolves tied the contest before halftime after being awarded a penalty kick.  Anthony Samuel (Chaguanas, Trinidad & Tobago/Chaguanas H.S.) stepped up to the spot and converted for his team-leading sixth goal of the season and second on a penalty kick.
 
The match was deadlocked at intermission with both teams having five shot attempts in the opening 45 minutes.
 
Lourdes scored the match-winning goal with 17:54 to play.  N'Faly Diallo (Detroit, Mich./Mumford H.S.) sent a ball up the left side to Hussein Sbeiti (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn H.S.).  Sbeiti centered the ball to Leon Eisert (Leipzig, Germany/Kathe-Kollwitz Gymnasium) who fired the ball off the left post and ricocheted in for his fourth tally of the year and first match-winner.
 
"It was a great finish by Leon to win it," Johnson added.  "He's a player with the capability to really lift our attack and he showed his quality tonight."
 
The Gray Wolves had to fend off the Cougars who played a man-up for the final 16:15 following a Lourdes red card but was able to do so for the victory.
 
Lourdes finished with a 13-8 shot advantage in the match.  Alex Brock (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) made three saves in goal for the Gray Wolves while Austin Freemire made the same number of stops for the Cougars.
 
"We have a big game coming up on Saturday," Johnson concluded.  "Dearborn is in a great run of form right now so it'll be a big test."
 
Lourdes (5-8-4, 3-4-3) will close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon with a trip to Dearborn, Mich. to battle the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Star International Academy.