DENTON, Texas—Two early goals set the tone for North Texas as it knocked off Northwestern State 3-0 Sunday evening in the first regular season game of the Ian Brophy era for NSU.

UNT (2-0) dominated the first half, attempting 16 of its 22 shots in the opening 45 minutes, which led to the pair of early goals to set the tone for the home team.

In the 11^th minute, the Mean Green found the back of the net to open the scoring off the foot of Kat Burnell. Summer Brown found Burnell open in the middle of the box and she turned around and scored going bottom right corner of the net.

Four minutes later, Bailey Wesco doubled the UNT advantage. The Mean Green capitalized off a turnover deep in the NSU end off a goal kick, as Wesco scored top left to make it tallies on back-to-back shots.

NSU (0-1) found its footing the remainder of the game, surrendering a single goal in the final 75 minutes to keep the game within striking distance.

"Overall, it was not the result we wanted, but we can take positives from this game," Brophy said. "We played a good second half and I am happy with that. We just need to be more consistent. The good thing is that the errors in the first half we had are correctable."

But the Lady Demons offense could not break through against a UNT defense that has not allowed a goal in its two games so far.

NSU attempted four shots in the game, three of which came after halftime. Bella Ruggiano took the first shot of the season for the Lady Demons just minutes into the game, shooting from the top of the box that went wide.

Junior goalkeeper Libe Banuelos kept NSU in the game for much of the contest. She made a diving stop in the fourth minute off the foot of Avery Barron, one of her five stops on the game, all of which came in the first half.

While UNT dominated the first half, the Lady Demons played right with the Mean Green in the final 45 minutes, holding UNT to just six shots after halftime, led by the defensive duo of Jessica Spitzer and Alina Graf.

"One of the positives to come away from this game is that Jessica and Alina have formed a very strong partnership and I am happy with how they are growing together," Brophy said.

Halee Griffin aimed to cut the deficit in half in the 52^nd minute, but her left-footed shot was blocked from the middle of the box.

Shortly after NSU's best chance, UNT added one more to put the game away.

After recording an assist earlier, Brown found the back of the net for the second time on the young season, also doing so against UNLV. She got behind the NSU defense and received a perfect pass to lead her to a one-on-one chance with Banuelos.

She rocketed one that hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced down behind the line for the finishing touches on the 3-0 victory.

NSU had one more chance late, but Sabrina Lopez couldn't quite put the Lady Demons on the board. In the 88^th minute on the right side of the box, receiving a pass but couldn't find total control of the ball and her shot sailed high over the crossbar.

"When we executed like we did in the first 25 minutes of the second half, we showed how good we can be," Brophy said. "Now we just need to put it together for a full 90 minutes."

Griffin led the way in shots for NSU with two, while Jenna Sheely attempted four and Barron recorded three for UNT.

NSU continues its mini road stretch to begin the season with a trip to Mississippi State on Thursday before the home opener Sunday against Rice.