BEAUMONT, Texas—A goal in the final 10 minutes from Houston Christian was too much to overcome, as Northwestern State saw its season come to an end in a 2-1 defeat on Thursday evening at the LU Soccer Complex in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals.

A goal on a header from Paisley Barela in the 83^rd minute was the difference, as it broke a 1-1 deadlock to give the Huskies the lead and eventual win.

HCU held the Demons without a shot the remainder of the game to seal the win.

"It's a tough game," head coach Ian Brophy said. "I thought we played really well. I feel we were a little unlucky in the end. Sometimes you need the bounces to go your way and they didn't tonight."

NSU (13-5-2) saw one of its best seasons in school history come to an end with a regular season championship, just its third in school history.

"It was a huge year for us," Brophy said. "It's another step for the program and we have to continue pushing and continuing to take steps forward. We had an unbelievable season, one all the ladies on the team can be proud of."

Like in the regular season meeting, HCU (11-8-2) took the lead early in the second half. This one came on a penalty kick, as Alexia Murillo scored to give the Huskies the lead.

However, in game one, the Demons could not find the equalizer. In this one, they did, thanks to freshman Kendall Hemperley once again.

Two days after scoring the winning goal in overtime against McNeese, she tied the game with a blistering drive of a shot from the right side of the box in the 61^st minute, going to the top left corner.

It came off an assist from Emily Senatore, who finishes her season with sensational junior campaign with 12 goals and 26 points, both of which finished in the top 10 for a single season in school history.

Neither team had a ton of opportunities prior to the Huskies goal in the final 10 minutes.

While the game was scoreless in the first half, both teams had chances to grab the lead.

HCU led in shots overall 15-12, but NSU held a 6-2 edge in the first 45 minutes.

The Demons had a couple of nice chances in the first half, but HCU goalkeeper Emmy McKeon made a pair of nice saves on shots by Dawson Marrs and Riley Stern.

In between, the Huskies had their best opportunity in the first half on a clean look at the top of the box, as Paisley Barela sailed a shot over the crossbar in the 10^th minute.

NSU controlled much of the first half but could not find the go-ahead goal in the opening 45 minutes, as they went into recess scoreless.

After the penalty kick goal early in the second half, the Huskies applied major pressure. Before the penalty kick, a shot from Olivia Rossman hit the crossbar.

Goalkeeper Kennedy Rist kept the Demons in the game when down a goal, robbing Isabella Alamo on a shot attempt after making a stop on Jasmine Diaz, who scored the lone goal in the regular season matchup.

Rist made four total saves, and Audrey Marfia came in for five minutes and stopped one shot.

That momentum helped lead to Hemperley's game-tying goal.

Senatore led the game with four shot attempts with two on frame.

The game saw the careers of Madison Murphy, Emily Mougia and Jessica Spitzer come to a close, but they left a mark on the program.

"They've been awesome," Brophy said. "We've got a really special group of seniors, the way they've poured into the program and believing into what we could do here and buying into everything I threw at them. They've gone through a lot of changes here and they've been incredible people, incredible players and incredible leaders and I am grateful for everything they've done, and I'll be forever thankful."