Complete Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Soccer: Lourdes takes to the road for the first time in 2023 on Wednesday afternoon as the Gray Wolves travel to the Hoosier State to face Holy Cross (Ind.).  Lourdes returns to Wildcat Stadium on Saturday evening for the team's final home non-conference match of the season, entertaining Huntington.

Head Coach Matt Johnson: Matt Johnson took over as the second head coach in program's history prior to the 2019 season.  Johnson sports a 105-122-15 (.465) record overall in his 13th season as a men's collegiate soccer coach and has a 30-38-7 (.447) mark in his third year at Lourdes.

Series Notes: Holy Cross (Ind.) holds a 2-1 series advantage against the Gray Wolves dating back to Feb. 8, 2021.  Lourdes picked up its first victory in the series last season, a 1-0 triumph at Wildcat Stadium.  The Saints won the only previous match in Notre Dame, Ind., 2-1, on Sept. 7, 2021.  Huntington won the only previous contest against Lourdes by a 2-1 score on Sept. 3, 2022 in Huntington, Ind.  The Foresters are making their first appearance at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday.  

Wrapping Up Last Week: A goal 5:12 into the second half proved to be the only scoring in the season opener last Wednesday (Aug. 30) as Mount Vernon Nazarene defeated the Gray Wolves 1-0 at Wildcat Stadium.  Alex Brock made six saves in net for Lourdes in the setback as the Gray Wolves outshot the Cougars 20-7 for the match.  On Saturday (Sept. 2), Marian (Ind.) and Lourdes battled for 90 minutes but finished scoreless at Wildcat Stadium.  Brock had four more saves in the shutout effort for the Gray Wolves as the Knights finished with a 14-11 shot edge.

Scouting Holy Cross (Ind.): The Saints had their two-match winning streak snapped on Saturday, falling to Huntington 4-2 on the road.  Kevin Vidana leads Holy Cross with two goals this season while Anthony Panayiotou has the team's other tally.

Scouting Huntington: The Foresters enter the week following a 4-2 win at home against Holy Cross (Ind.) on Saturday.  Huntington travels to Cumberlands (Ky.) on Tuesday night before visiting Lourdes.  Sam Dolobaipu paces the offense with seven points and shares the team lead in goals with Higor Barbieri, each of whom have found the back of the net three times.  In goal, Dan Pellegrine has played a majority of the minutes, sporting a 0.78 goals against average and a .778 save percentage.

Lourdes in Road Openers: Lourdes is 6-1-1 all-time in its first true road match of the season.  The Gray Wolves tied Goshen 1-1 in its first road contest of the 2022 season and are 2-0-1 over the last three seasons taking to the road for the first time.

Looking for the Back of the Net: Lourdes has had plenty of chances thus far this season, outshooting opponents 31-21 overall, but has been unable to find the back of the net. Martin Coronel leads the Gray Wolves with seven total shot attempts, three of which are on goal.

A Clean Sheet: Alex Brock recorded his third career shutout in the scoreless draw against Marian (Ind.) on Saturday evening.  He ranks fourth in program history for career clean sheets.  Brock has yielded just one goal in 11 shot attempts (.909 save percentage) thus far this year on the way to posting a 0.50 goals against average.

Lourdes Debuts: Jannik Hofmann, Bhuvan Ramaswamy, and Nate Schuele all made their Gray Wolf debuts last week in the match against Mount Vernon Nazarene.  Hofmann and Schuele each saw action in the Marian (Ind.) contest as well.

In the Record Books: Diego Pereira is tied with Brendon Long (2018-2020) for eighth all-time at Lourdes with nine career goals.  They trail Reece Riccardi (2016-2019) by just one goal for seventh on the all-time charts.  Pereira is also ninth on the school's all-time points list with 22, trailing Riccardi and teammate Hussein Sbeiti by one. 

More Top Performances: Hussein Sbeiti is also ranked in the top 10 in scoring for the Gray Wolves.  He is tied with Haggi Amirally (2016-2017) for 10th with eight career goals while his seven assists are tied with N'Faly Diallo (2018-2022) and Andris Klempert (2019-2022) for sixth on that chart.  Sbeiti's 23 career points match Reece Riccardi's (2016-2019) total which ranks seventh all-time at Lourdes.

Gray Wolves Tabbed Sixth in WHAC Preseason Poll: Lourdes was selected to finish in sixth place in the WHAC this season in the preseason poll conducted of the league's head coaches.  The Gray Wolves were picked just behind fifth place Lawrence Tech.  Madonna was selected to win the league crown.

Team Captains: Victor Espinoza, Daniel Mirlach, and Ariel Ramirez Rios will serve as team captains for the 2023 season.

This and That: Lourdes is 28-44-1 all-time in true road matches ... the Gray Wolves are 22-31-10 all-time at Wildcat Stadium ... Alex Brock has moved into fourth place all-time with 58 carer saves at Lourdes, passing Garrett Baxley (2018-2021).