NACOGDOCHES, Texas—Northwestern State could not withstand a second half onslaught, as it fell to Stephen F. Austin 5-0 in the rain in the Southland Conference regular season title game Friday at the SFA Soccer Field.

The Demons (10-7-2, 6-3-1) begin the SLC Tournament Tuesday as the No. 4 seed, playing against Southeastern Louisiana at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Northwestern State did not receive the help it needed to stay in the top two seeds, as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeated UTRGV and Texas A&M-Commerce won at the road against Houston Christian.

"We've got to forget about this game," head coach Ian Brophy said. "We were pushing ahead late to try to get back in the game and we conceded a few more goals, so I am not so much concerned about the score line.

"If anything, I felt like we could have capitalized better earlier in the game and made the first half really count for more."

The game was scoreless up until late in the first half, but SFA (11-3-2, 8-2) received a penalty kick opportunity following a handball on the Demons called in the box.

Ava Shannon did the honors for SFA and she scored going right and the home team took a 1-0 lead into the break.

From there, the dam broke in the second half, as SFA scored four times to break open a close game.

In the 64^th minute, Kamryn Jiles scored off an impossible angle from the right side of the field, shooting past Libe Banuelos to push the lead to 2-0.

Caelynn January added to the lead in the 74^th minute off a rebound to make it 3-0. Following a shot by Maddie Bowers that was saved by Banuelos, it bounced back to January, who knocked it home.

The Lumberjacks added two more in the final 3:04 from Jiles and Brielle Buchanan to make the final score 5-0.

For the first 38 minutes, the Demons played their game and it was scoreless. Northwestern State had opportunities in the first half but could not capitalize.

Tiana Cruz attempted the Demons first shot, but it sailed high in the 13^th minute. Emily Gundin's shot attempt in the 23^rd minute had the same fate, as did Emily Senatore's shot in the 30^th minute.

Following the goal from SFA, the game flipped and the Lumberjacks controlled the action and the Demon could seize back control.

"I thought our grit and the way we fought to the end and continued to push was good," Brophy said. "Early on, I thought we controlled the game, but we didn't do enough with that. I felt like that is something that ended up letting us down. We just need to do a little more with our possession, but overall, I was pleased with the effort."

SFA won the battle in shots 25-10 and 11-2 in shots on goal, the shots and goals allowed since the game at Arkansas in August.

The game time for Tuesday's game is at 1 p.m. since AMCC is taking the 7 p.m. time slot as the host team and SFA chose the 10 a.m. slot when facing UTRGV. The winner of the Demons game plays the winner of SFA/UTRGV.

"It's a quick turnaround for us, so we can brush this one off and get motivated again," Brophy said. "Obviously, come playoff time, everyone is motivated since it is win-or-go-home. We're excited to keep our season going and hopefully we can keep performing when we get down to Corpus."