NATCHITOCHES – Emotions were a mixed bag for the Northwestern State soccer team on Friday evening.

Southland Conference regular season champion NSU (10-5-2, 10-2 SLC) fell on Senior Day in a chippy affair with second place McNeese (12-4-2, 9-2-1 SLC) in the 89^th minute, resulting in a 1-0 victory for the Cowgirls.  

A scrum inside the NSU box, spearheaded by McNeese freshman midfielder Morgan Schooley in the 89^th minute resulted in a pair of shot attempts. The rebound from her first attempt Schooley found near the outside of the penalty box, which she sent past Southland Goalkeeper of the Year Acelya Adogmus high-left for the game winner – the first goal scored against Aydogmus since Oct 1^st.

Despite the loss, head coach Stuart Gore praised his team for playing through a long week and still performing like champions.

"I was proud of our lot today – I thought they did a great job," head coach Stuart Gore said.  "I thought we dominated the game from start to finish. Give credit to (Schooley), she hit a nice shot to score. But for a team that just played 36 hours ago playing against a team that hasn't played in over a week, from the sight of it you would have thought that we were the team that had a week off.

"I think we knew it was going to be a very nip-and-tuck game, and it certainly was. But for myself and the team, today we're conference champions. That belongs to us."

The Lady Demons dominated on offense, posting 19 total shots, with four on-goal, to McNeese's 9(5). The attack was led by a tenacious effort from senior defender Natalee Henry, who posted nine shots, three of which were on-frame. A cast of seniors comprise the rest of the offensive stats for NSU, with Nicole Henry, Jalen Donaldson, and Jayme Haynes each posting two shots apiece.

After the match, the Lady Demons welcomed the 2021 senior class onto the field, along with friends, family, and a few canine companions to celebrate a distinguished graduating class.

"They've been the lifeblood of this program for four years and grown to be fantastic soccer players and incredible women," Gore said. "All of them are super smart, they're great teammates, great friends, and I have no doubt that they're going to do big things in the world."

NSU now turns its attention toward Corpus Christi, where they head next week to begin the Southland Conference Tournament. The Lady Demons enter as the top seed after claiming their first regular-season title since 2000 with 30 total points. The Lady Demons receive a bye into Friday's semifinals and will face the winner of host and No. 4 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 5 seed Southeastern Louisiana, the defending tournament champions.