The Northwestern State soccer team won’t defend its Southland Conference regular-season championship after losing Sunday, but is in the upcoming SLC Tournament. The Demons’ volleyball team fell Saturday to the SLC co-leaders and settled for a split of its weekend homestand.
SOCCER: An early flurry from McNeese was too much to overcome in a 4-1 loss by the Northwestern State soccer team on Sunday in the final road regular season game of the season.
Visiting NSU (8-9, 5-4) couldn’t withstand an early onslaught from McNeese (9-6-3, 4-2-3), as the Cowgirls scored three goals in the first half to take control.
With the loss, the Demons won’t be able to defend their regular season crown.
“I thought we just didn’t play well today,” NSU coach Ian Brophy said. “I thought we were prepared tactically but just didn’t perform well. We had some individuals who played really well, but overall, it wasn’t our best game as a team.”
McNeese started the game on fire and didn’t let up, scoring its first goal in the fifth minute to set the tone for the match. The home side registered two more goals exactly nine minutes apart to push the Cowgirls in front 3-0.
The Demons closed the gap briefly Rhiley Potteiger scored her first career goal and first career points in the 52nd minute shortly following a corner kick in her third game back after an injury sidelined her for 10 games. But McNeese answered soon after.
NSU’s regular season finale is at home Thursday morning at 11 when it hosts UTRGV at the Demon Soccer Complex before heading to Commerce for the Southland Conference Tournament, which starts on Nov. 10.
“We have to be resilient like we have been all year,” Brophy said. “We need to bounce back and not let our foot off the gas against UTRGV and make sure we’re mentally all there since for whatever reason we weren’t mentally into it today. We have to keep our foot off the gas because we’ve got a tough playoff run in front of us.”
VOLLEYBALL: NSU has several measuring-stick matches remaining down the stretch of Southland Conference play. The Demons found out Saturday just where they need to go when those arrive.
Visiting UIW entered Prather Coliseum as one of four teams tied for the Southland lead, and the Cardinals maintained that standing after sweeping Northwestern, 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16).
“That is the cream right now,” second-year head coach Ben Kaszeta said. “They are the team that has been at the top of the conference or second in the conference all season. They were the preseason No. 1 or No. 2. They’re very good at what they do. They’re a very disciplined team. For us, we’re just trying to learn how to have continued and sustained success against teams like that.”
Northwestern (13-14, 5-7) strung together a few moments on each side of the ball throughout the match, but UIW (12-9, 10-2) had an answer for whatever the Demons put together.
CROSS COUNTRY: Eleven NSU athletes posted personal bests at the Southland Conference Championships Friday morning, which gives the team confidence as they move into the track season in January and future cross country campaigns beginning next fall.
“Unfortunately, the team scores (12th in both men’s and women’s competition) didn’t really show how well the kids performed,” NSU coach Alex Wills said. “I think we had about a dozen PRs today and I was very proud of all of them. It’s such a young team too. I have no doubt if you give them time to continue to develop and this will be a very competitive team in the conference.”