CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—Just like the Northwestern State's season continued because of a penalty kick shootout in the quarterfinals, the season ends the same way, as it fell in heartbreaking fashion 1-1 and 5-4 in the PKs to top-seeded Lamar in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament.

The season ends for NSU with a record of 6-10-3 but didn't lose in regulation in any of its final five games.

Lamar (14-2-3) plays McNeese on Sunday to decide who gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament from the SLC.

Just like Wednesday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Lady Demons trailed for a vast majority of the second half but came back with a clutch goal.

Last time, it was Emme' Fernandez. This time, it was off the foot of Sabrina Lopez, a former Cardinal, who tied the game in the 89^th minute with a shot from near the right post.

"That was a heck of a moment," first-year head coach Ian Brophy said. "Sabrina scoring against her old team was definitely special. It kept us alive in the game and gave us the lifeline that we could go and compete. We did just that, taking it all the way to the wire and losing by one in penalty kicks on a near miss.

"I am proud of the performance and proud of the way we played and the energy we put forth. We took that team all the way. It shows how good we are and how good we can be. It gives us real confidence to go forward with."

On the goal, Madison Murphy booted a perfect free kick from outside the left corner of the box and it was deflected on a header by Jessica Spitzer to Lopez, who did the rest. Her right-footed boot from the bottom right corner going top shelf tied the game with less than two minutes to play and send it into overtime.

From there, just like Wednesday, the 20 overtime minutes were not enough.

In the penalty shootout, the freshmen Riley Stern and Emily Senatore converted, just like in the quarterfinals.

Playing in what was their final collegiate game, both Halee Griffin and Emme' Fernandez found the back of the net in the session as well.

"I am really happy for Emme' and Halee to score in the penalty kicks," Brophy said. (Final senior) Mia (Dupuis) has been an integral leader for us as well. All three of them are huge. Mia's voice on the sidelines was big for us. It was big all season and it was big at the end in this game. I was really happy with Emme' and Halee's performance overall, highlighted by the PKs.

"All three of them left a real legacy here and something we can really build on. They've really put down a platform for us to spring forward now. The way they bough in my first year here, I couldn't be more thankful of those three."

However, while NSU made four of its five, Lamar made all five to advance to the title match.

The final tally came from Arely Alaniz, who scored going right side of the net to win the thriller.

NSU battled back to tie the game after Lamar scored early in the second half for the first goal of the contest.

Lamar's goal also came on a free kick. Kaisa Juvonen's boot from just beyond the midfield stripe was deflected by Hollie Massey to Cariel Ellis, who scored bottom left past a diving NSU goalkeeper Libe Banuelos.

The Cardinals lead stood until Lopez's goal in the final two minutes to send it into overtime.

While the first half played to a scoreless deadlock, it was not without each time creating golden opportunities.

Lamar began the game with a flurry, but the Lady Demons settled down and settled in, much like it did against AMCC.

In the 24^th minute, NSU nearly scored first, as Fernandez crossed it to Taylor Spitzer, whose shot hit the left post and stayed near the goal line before being booted out of harm's way by the Cardinals defense.

Lamar attempted seven of its 21 shots in the first half, as it outshot NSU 21-10. It was the sixth consecutive contest to end the season that NSU attempted double digit shots.

Banuelos and the NSU defense stood tall, however, as the junior goalkeeper made three of her nine saves in the opening 45 minutes to keep the game tied.

Three Lady Demons—Fernandez, Stern and Taylor Spitzer—attempted two shots each to lead the way. Massey recorded six shot attempts for Lamar to lead all players.