HOUSTON, Texas – McNeese State senior goalkeeper Lauren Sestak's seven saves in goal was the highlight in a tough fought loss Friday evening at Carl Lewis Field as the Cowgirls dropped a 3-0 shutout to the University of Houston in their only match on the weekend.

Sestak, a native of Spring, Texas, has recorded seven or more saves in five of the six matches this season and has given up only seven goals despite facing 98 shots. He has a .833 save percentage on the season, which ranks among the top in the Southland Conference.

"Tonight was a tough loss but we had some good moments during the match," said head coach Scooter Savoie. "We also had some moments where we were caught out of our shape and were unbalanced. We need to improve our balance as a team heading into conference play. We haven't been able to score in the last couple of games so we need to do a better job in the attacking third.

McNeese (3-3) avoided a barrage of shots throughout the match while Houston (2-4) was able to fire off 14 total attempts against the Cowgirls. Friday night marked the fourth consecutive match that McNeese faced 10 or more shots against its opponent.

"I thought our backline did well with a couple of players stepping up to hold that line down," said Savoie. "We need to sort out our rotation in the midfield and should be fine. We are going to go back and study our first six games and look at the things we were doing well early on and try to reemphasize those things to help give us a some positive momentum moving forward.

The Cowgirls wrapped up the non-conference slate with two wins on the road and one victory at home.

"All-in-all, I think that non-conference play turned out well," said Savoie. We have players still learning each other and have had some good games while we took it on the chin for a couple of matches. However, I think we are going to be good to go next weekend."

Houston's first goal of the match occurred in the first 15 minutes of the match as the Cougars' Selena Peters sent a cross shot that found Hailey Kirkwood who shot from the left side past the goalkeeper for the 1-0 advantage.

The Cougars upped the lead in the second half on a barrage of shots that were saved, deflected off the bar and rebounded back to the original shooter, Lexa Green, who was able to slip past the defense and give UH a 2-0 lead over McNeese.

The final goal was scored by Houston in the 71^st minute of the match on an open goal tap in to go up 3-0.

UH led both teams in total shots, 14-6, and shots on goal, 5-0. McNeese held the advantage in corner kicks, 3-1.

Sophomore Gabi D'Alesandro logged two shots in the match while four other Cowgirls were able to record a shot.

The Cowgirls will take Sunday off to rest before the start of Southland Conference action next weekend. McNeese will host Southeastern Louisiana in Lake Charles on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.