NATCHITOCHES — The Northwestern State soccer team created scoring opportunities Thursday night at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex, but it didn't conjure up enough dangerous scoring chances. That ultimately led to a 1-0 defeat to Abilene Christian.
"We are disappointed," said co-head coach Jess Jobe. "We felt like offensively we let a couple things slip away from us. We could have been tidier in some execution in a couple moments. ACU definitely did some things, and they deserve some credit for making some things difficult.
We are disappointed for not leveraging some more opportunities."
The loss drops the Lady Demons to 8-2-1 on the season and 6-2-1 in Southland Conference play. The win improves the Wildcats to 9-6-2 overall and 5-3-1 in league action.
Jordan Michie provided the game's lone goal. She took it in herself during the 50th minute, besting junior goaltender Acelya Aydogmus.
The game was quite balanced. The Wildcats managed six shots, four of which were on target, while NSU registered five shots, two of which were on frame.
Sophomore Samantha Hanking led NSU with two shots. Junior Jalen Donaldson, Jayme Haynes and freshman Sara Roche laid claim to the other three shots.
Aydogmus logged three saves, and Abilene Christian goalkeeper Erin Smith made two.
Northwestern State possess effective offensive flow and linkage during stretches of the games, and Thursday night was no different. But the team has been experiences lapses in that area, as well, and that's something that needs some remedying.
"We go into every game expecting to win, and we've got a group we feel confident doing that, and we've had some success doing that," Jobe said, "So it's not just failing to score, but also really failing to test the goalkeeper. We didn't see her have any big moments where she was stretched into a big save or a scrum happening in the box where we felt like they were under a lot of pressure."
NSU will look to cook up some dangerous moments in its final home match of the season. It'll play host to Incarnate Word at 12 p.m. Saturday at the Lady Demons Soccer Complex.
Northwestern State sits in second place of the Southland Conference standings at 19 points with just two regular-season games left. Lamar leads the way, compiling 21 points, and Stephen F. Austin sits in third with 18 points.
