HAMMOND—Northwestern State could not hold onto a first half lead as it dropped its first Southland Conference game of the season 2-1 at Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon at Strawberry Stadium.

The Demons (7-5-1, 3-1) saw their seven-game winning streak and eight-game unbeaten streak come to an end at SLU (5-5-1, 4-1) in a matchup the league's top two teams in the SLC standings.

SLU scored two goals in a span of six minutes early in the second half to turn a 1-0 Northwestern State lead into a Lions lead, which turned out to be the difference.

"I am pretty frustrated," head coach Ian Brophy said. "It was a tough game and I thought we played well. I thought we were the better team for most of the game, but we made two mistakes and they made us pay for them."

While the Demons had not made many mistakes during their winning streak, they were dealt a stroke of bad luck in the 55^th minute, as a free kick was headed by a Northwestern State defender but it was headed over the head of Demons goalkeeper Libe Banuelos right in front of the net and tapped in for the equalizer.

In the 61^st minute, a great move by Hannah McCord freed herself to find a wide open Halli Roe in the middle of the box, where she shot it lower right past a diving Banuelos for what became the game winner.

While the game ended on a sour note for the Demons, it started off on a high one for the visitors. Taylor Spitzer scored her third goal of the season on a pass from Julia Pinho Magno.

Northwestern State collected a throw-in by the Lions in Demons territory and Pinho Magno dribbled up the field into SLU territory, where she passed it to an open Spitzer and she found the back of the net low right to put the Demons in front 1-0.

The goal is Spitzer's 11^th career goal and third of the season, all of which have during SLC play.

Prior to the goal, Emily Senatore nearly added her fourth goal in three games, but her shot drilled the crossbar and bounced harmlessly away.

Northwestern State controlled much of the first half, but went into the locker room in front by one goal.

But the game quickly turned early in the second half, as SLU came out aggressive.

The Demons defense kept them off the board until the free kick in the 55^th minute. The header was mis-hit in front of Banuelos and it sailed backward and right in front of the Demons net, where it was tapped in by Kelsey Fuller.

Lions scored minutes later shortly after a corner kick. McCord, the team's leading scorer, made a move to break from the defense, where she found the wide open Roe for the goal.

"We had a lack of focus on the free kick goal," We should have allowed to Libe to gran it. We definitely were a little unfocused during that time period and it cost us the two goals."

Northwestern State tried to push for the equalizing goal and despite a few good chances, the Demons were unable to tie the contest, suffering their first loss in league play.

"We pushed really hard and created good chances to try to tie the game," Brophy said. "But maybe we pushed a little too much and we could have passed it and tried to get a better chance."

The Demons had the advantage in shots 13-9, led by three shots each from Senatore, Pinho Magno and Emily Gundin.

Northwestern State heads back home for four of the next five, starting with a visit from Houston Christian on Friday evening at the Demon Soccer Complex in the annual Fork Cancer game.