STARKVILLE, Mississippi—Mississippi State scored a little more than four minutes into the game and didn't look back as the Northwestern State soccer team fell 3-0 Thursday evening at the MSU Soccer Field.

Maggie Wadsworth scored just 4:03 into the game to set the tone for the contest. Off a set piece, a free kick sailed to the middle of the box to Rylie Combs, who headed into to the lower left of the box where Wadsworth tapped it into the lower left corner and the Bulldogs were off and running.

"It was disappointing," first-year head coach Ian Brophy said. "It was not the result we were looking for. It was disappointing they scored on a set piece in the fifth minute. Afterwards, I thought we competed really well.

"After that second goal they scored late in the first half, the game became a little harder at the point."

NSU (0-2) struggled to find open space against a suffocating MSU (2-0-1) defense that has just allowed one goal in three games to begin the regular season.

Defensively, MSU held the Lady Demons to just a single shot attempt, which was taken in the 82^nd minute by freshman Laura Stepniak. The Bulldogs held a 19-1 shot edge, including 10-0 in shots on goal.

"Mississippi State kept possession quite a bit, which was tough," Brophy said. "We had a couple nice scoring chances, but overall, we could be a little bit better."

The Bulldogs added one more in the first half late to double the lead in the 40^th minute. The ball was on the left flank and it was passed into the box, where it was headed out to Kennedy White, who whipped around and fired it in and past Libe Banuelos in the lower middle of the goal.

Banuelos posted three saves in her 45 minutes of work, including a save in the 24^th minute on a shot from the left side of just outside the box from Hannah Johnson. Banuelos leaped in the middle of the goal to make the save and keep NSU in the game.

Kora Fry earned the second half in net and stopped four shots in the first regular season minutes of her NSU career.

She was tested early in the second half, facing four shots in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

One of the shots found the back of the net following an impressive stop by Fry in the 49^th minute, as she stood tall on a shot from point-blank range from Haley McWhirter, but on the rebound, a header from Aitana Martinez-Montoya found the back of the net going bottom right to put the final tally on the board.

"I give huge credit to Kora for coming in on the fly," Brophy said. "She only had a few minutes to warm up. She made an impressive save on the initial shot, especially coming in cold. Nothing she could have done on that rebound."

Minutes after the goal, she showed her mental toughness with an impressive save. A pass from the right flank from Zoe Main to Wadsworth, who was bidding for her second goal of the contest, but Fry made the save with her foot to keep the deficit at three.

Wadsworth attempted a game-high three shots, tied with Johnson. Five others attempted two shots for MSU.

NSU comes back to Natchitoches for the home opener Sunday afternoon against Rice. It is the first of two home contests in the next three games, the only two home matches of the non-conference slate.