JACKSON, Miss – After allowing a go-ahead goal in the 65^th minute of the second half, the McNeese women's soccer team was unable to mount an attack down the stretch and fell to Jackson State by a 1-0 margin on Sunday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Complex.
 
The Cowgirls dropped to an overall mark of 1-3 on the season in their second game of a three-game road swing, while the Jackson State improved its record to 1-2-1 on the year.
 
"This was a tough result for us today," said head coach Scooter Savoie.  "Give credit to Jackson State who did a good job of disrupting the things that we wanted to do.  We missed several scoring opportunities today."
 
Both teams held each other in check during the first half, heading to intermission in a 0-0 draw.  The Cowgirls held a 6-3 advantage in shots over the Lady Tigers during the first with five shots having been saved by JSU keeper Kylie Christian.  A double shot attack from freshman Janice Coley and sophomore Savannah LaRicci in the 39^th minute looked to be enough to put the Cowgirls ahead but instead was saved by Christian.
 
The lone goal was the result of a penalty shot that came off the foot of Jackson State's Raquel Araujo who converted the goal and gave the Lady Tigers a 1-0 lead.  Araujo was one of seven Lady Tigers to record a shot in the contest.
 
"When Jackson State got their opportunity to score on a penalty kick, we left them in a position to take advantage of it and they capitalized on it," said Savoie.
 
McNeese continued to attack the net in the second half but could not sustain any momentum to knot the score.  LaRicci's shot in the opening minutes as well as senior Tori Lasiter's shot in the 57^th minute were unable to slip by Christian, who finished the day with seven saves.
 
"We just had a tough time rallying today and were not able to come away with the result that we wanted," said Savoie.  "Again, give credit to Jackson State and their staff for what they did."
 
Junior goalkeeper Maggie Marks was saddled with the loss for the Cowgirls despite collecting four saves in the complete 90 minutes in net.
 
McNeese outshot the Lady Tigers in the contest 10-7, including seven on target, but could not find the back of the net in the contest.  LaRicci led the squad with four shots followed by Lasiter who recorded two shots on the day. 
 
The Cowgirls will be back in action Friday evening for their third-straight road game against UTSA in San Antonio, Texas at 7 p.m.  A former member of the Southland Conference, UTSA scored a win in the last meeting with McNeese in 2011.