BEAUMONT – Northwestern State went toe-to-toe with defending Southland Conference champion Lamar on Sunday, but the Cardinals found a second-half goal that was the difference in a 1-0 Lady Demons loss.

NSU (6-5, 0-3 Southland Conference) outshot Lamar 22-17 in the loss, but the Cardinals slotted through balls behind the Lady Demons back line for parts of the second half, one that resulted in the lone goal.

In the 66^th minute, Lamar's Kelso Peskin slotted one such pass to Anna Loftus, who angled a shot low and away from NSU goalkeeper Kayla Bomben in a one-on-one situation for the Lamar (6-3, 2-0 SLC) goal.

"First and foremost, I'm extremely proud of our team and our players," said first-year co-head coach Jess Jobe. "Whether players played all 90 minutes or didn't play at all, everybody played a part in bringing energy and belief on the road.

"We bounced back really well from Friday's loss at McNeese, and I thought we deserved more today from this effort."

Bomben had arguably one of her best games of the season, tying a career high with five saves. Bomben saved a penalty kick late in the second half and also on a later breakaway situation to keep the Lady Demons within striking distance.

Of Lamar's 17 attempts, just six were on frame.

"Our defense battled really hard, and there was a lot of required of them today," Jobe said. "They left everything on the field.

"There were moments that we have to clean up, and we'll have to take a hard look at that goal from the moment we lost the ball. Bomben had a big voice back there and made some huge saves down the stretch. We weren't able to support our defense from the offensive side with a goal."

NSU couldn't find the back of the net despite 11 shots on goal and 13 corner kicks.

Three different players (April Trowbridge, Brittany Caserma and Alexis Weaver) each took five shots with a combined eight of those on goal.

Sunday marked the second league game in which the Lady Demons outshot their opponent in a loss, although NSU didn't approach its 18-4 advantage in a 1-0 loss to Stephen F. Austin this past week.

NSU drops to 1-4 in games decided by one goal with all four losses coming by way of shutout.

The Lady Demons return to Natchitoches to face Incarnate Word on Friday and Abilene Christian on Sunday.