LAKE CHARLES – Despite a strong offensive attack that included a nine shot advantage over its opponent, the McNeese women's soccer team fell to Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-0, in a rain soaked match Friday night.

"It was a tough result for our team tonight," said head coach Scooter Savoie.  "However, I thought that we opened up our game pretty well with good possession play and good ball movement."
 
The Cowgirls (1-2) recorded 18 shots in the match with 12 attempts coming in the second half.  Six different McNeese players were able to record a shot in the match with nine of those coming on target.
 
ULL (2-1) kept even with McNeese during the first half as the Cajuns matched the Cowgirls with six shots apiece.
 
Freshman forward Gabi D'Alesandro led the team with five shots on the night while four of those were recorded as an on-target shot.  Senior Krista Steinbeiser and sophomore Hannah Sutherland each recorded four shots in the match.
 
The tone was set in the opening minutes of the contest as the Cowgirls recorded three shots in the first five minutes of the match.  Two missed the net while one shot was prevented from going in from the ULL keeper.
 
The scoring opened up in the 18^th minute of the ballgame as the Cajun's Danielle DeRosa was able to get off a shot that traveled by the McNeese defense after a split inside the box forced the Cowgirl goalkeeper to come out to attempt a save.
 
In the 36^th minute, ULL's Madison Duncan found the right corner of the goal on a straight shot inside the box that gave the Cajuns a 2-0 lead over the Cowgirls.
 
ULL struck again in the 42^nd minute as Denice Emokpae rocketed a shot from the top left corner of the box that found the net and gave the home team a 3-0 lead over McNeese.

"I thought that we gave up some soft goals tonight especially there in the last few minutes of the first half," said Savoie.   "The last two put us in a tough spot but I thought we balanced our shape better in the second half and performed well moving forward.  We moved some people around which helped us there late in the contest."
 
The Cowgirls did not leave Lafayette without a fight, as the defense smothered the ULL offense to just three shots while McNeese recorded 12 shots against the home team.
 
D'Alesandro was two near misses away from getting the Cowgirls back into the match in the 46^th and 47^th minutes while Steinbeiser's shot in the 48^th minute just missed the net as it deflected off the post.
 
After back-to-back shots by Sutherland in the 62^nd minute, the action was stagnant Steinbeiser's shot was blocked in the 80^th minute.  Her attempt opened up one final attack in the final 10 minutes of the match as D'Alesandro, sophomores Kayla Goedicke and Savannah LaRicci and senior Tori Lasiter each recorded a shot.

"We had some good play in the second half but could have done some things better," said Savoie.  "Our message is that it is still early in the season and we still have some things to work on before conference begins but I do think we are finding our team each time out and are making strides towards our goals in terms of getting better week in and week out."
 
The Cowgirls return to action on Sunday when they go head-to-head against Jackson State in a match slated for a 1 p.m. start.  Fans can receive in-game updates by following @McNeeseSoccer on Twitter and McNeese Sports on Facebook.