Box Score BEAUMONT, Texas – After scoring the first goal of the game, the Northwestern State soccer team was beaten by a hat trick from Lamar's senior forward Lisa Hance who made the most of her last regular season game as the Lady Cardinals rallied for a 3-1 win in Southland Conference action Sunday afternoon.

“I am very proud of our players,” said head coach Jimmy Mitchell. “We came into the weekend knowing our circumstances, and they played very hard.”

The Lady Demons were knocked out of the Southland Conference championship tournament hunt last weekend.

“It was just a frustrating game because we felt we played evenly with them, but they were just able to finish when we made mistakes, said Mitchell.  “Often times that is what happens with a young team, but still we do not want to have any excuses.”

Sophomore forward Ashlee Savona scored her second goal in as many games and third of the season to put the Lady Demons (8-10-1, 2-6-1 SLC) up 1-0 in the 18th minute.  Senior Haley Cheshier, who recorded her fourth assist of the season, assisted Savona.

The Lady Demons held the 1-0 lead until intermission.

“We started out looking very good in the first half with a great goal and assist to give us the lead,” said Mitchell.  “We had a couple of chances to add another goal, but we still felt pretty good.”

Hance scored her first goal just two minutes into the second half on an unassisted look giving her and the Lady Cardinals (9-7-2, 6-2-1 SLC) all the momentum.

The game-winning goal came 14 minutes later in the 61st minute on a pass from sophomore Amber Thornhill making it her first assist of the season.

Finally, the insurance goal came just five minutes later on another look from Thornhill to give Lamar the rights to the third seed in the SLC tournament.

“They scored their final two goals on throw-ins because they have a player who can put the ball perfectly in the box,” said Mitchell. “It was just very frustrating.”

The 2011 SLC tournament will be held in Natchitoches and all action begins Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the Lady Demon Soccer Complex.