After battling for 110 minutes and ending in a 1-1 draw, Lourdes saw its 2023 season come to an end on Saturday night falling in a penalty shooting 4-2 to the University of Northwestern Ohio at Wildcat Stadium in the quarterfinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament.
 
"I am really proud of the effort and performance of the group," head coach Matt Johnson said afterwards.  "UNOH is such a hardworking team and their commitment to work and press made it difficult for us to find time and space on the ball.  The first half we struggled to deal with it, but the second half it felt like we found our legs and gave them a lot of trouble.  We were close a number of times but not able to come up with that extra bit of quality that was required."
 
Northwestern Ohio (7-8-4) struck first just 5:52 into the match.  Following a Lourdes foul, Moritz Guettel fired the free kick from 25 yards out into the right side of the net to give the Racers a 1-0 lead.
 
The Gray Wolves answered with 15:17 to play before halftime.  With a free kick of their own, Martin Coronel (Asuncion, Paraguay/San Jose) sent the ball into the middle of the box where Rolando Benitez (Asuncion, Paraguay/Maria Serrana) got a head on the ball and found the back of the net with the equalizer.  For Benitez it was his third goal of the season while Coronel handed out his team-leading fourth assist.
 
The match remained deadlocked the remainder of the way.  After Northwestern Ohio outshot Lourdes 8-3 in the opening period, the edge was just 4-2 in the second 45 minutes.  Both sides had one shot attempt in each of the two extra sessions.
 
Alex Brock (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) had four saves in goal for Lourdes (6-6-6).
 
In the penalties, the Racers shot first with Tomas Echevarria and Jovaunn Ramos scoring for the visitors while Ariel Ramirez Rios (San Lorenzo, Paraguay/Colegio Aula Vira) and Nate Schuele (Toledo, Ohio/Southview H.S.) answered for the Gray Wolves.
 
Diego Cerezo converted the third attempt for Northwestern Ohio while the Gray Wolves' effort sailed over the crossbar.  Guettel made it 4-2 Racers and their netminder Ross Synnott, who made two saves during regulation, made a save to secure the victory.
 
"It's a tough way to end things going out on penalties, particularly for the seniors that have given so much to the program over the last few years," Johnson added.  "We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all of them, and I look forward to following all of their success as they move on from Lourdes."