LAKE CHARLES – When McNeese struck for a pair of first-half goals Friday, the Northwestern State soccer team found itself in a position it hadn't been all season.

The Lady Demons hadn't trailed by multiple goals in its first nine games, but NSU couldn't dig itself out of the early hole in a 4-0 loss to the Cowgirls.

NSU (6-4, 0-2 Southland Conference) competed relatively well in overall statistics as McNeese had a 13-9 shots edge and 10-8 shots on goal advantage, but the Cowgirls (7-4, 1-1 SLC) used their early burst to capture the team's first league win of the season.

McNeese scored its first two goals in a 1:30 span in the 18^th and 19^th minute.

"We started well and created a couple of chances early, but McNeese scored one goal and then hit us with a set piece," said NSU co-head coach Jess Jobe. "They put it on us, and we never really recovered from that sequence mentally.

"We were chasing the game from that point, and McNeese continued to put pressure on us and limited what we wanted to do. Credit McNeese on their effort and game plan."

After NSU goalkeeper Kayla Bomben and the defense thwarted one attack, the ball popped out to McNeese's Morgan Middleton beyond the corner of the box. Middleton slotted the ball into an open net as Bomben couldn't recover from the earlier defense.

The Cowgirls struck again quickly when Keely Morrow finished a close-range header off a corner kick for the 2-0 edge.

"There were several moments where we became spectators, and we didn't transition well or sniff out danger," Jobe said. "We would put up resistance to the initial attack, but we were the last to see the ball and react after that.

"We got caught ball watching some, and that was a struggle for us."

NSU pressured McNeese at different points throughout the game, but the Lady Demons couldn't find a goal before McNeese scored its third.

McNeese's Anna Watson stole a pass from the NSU back line before finishing high from the top of the box for a 3-0 lead in the 68^th minute.

The Cowgirls' Carissa Adams added McNeese's final goal in the 83^rd minute from inside the box.

McNeese keeper Emma Roccaforte was a wall for the Cowgirls, making eight saves and standing up to an NSU offense that was No. 2 in the nation with 30 goals entering the match.

NSU's Bomben responded with a season-high four saves, but the four goals allowed is a career high.

The four goals allowed is a season high for NSU, who had allowed just nine goals in the first nine games with three shutouts.

The Lady Demons last SLC loss by four goals came on Oct. 1 of 2017 when Abilene Christian scored a 6-2 win.

NSU gets another crack at its first SLC win when they travel to defending SLC champion Lamar on Sunday at 1 p.m.