BEAUMONT, Texas – The McNeese women's soccer team dropped its regular season finale on the road Friday evening in a 1-0 loss to Lamar but the Cowgirls received news that they had survived and advanced to the 2016 Southland Conference Tournament next week.
 
The Cowgirls (8-9-1, 4-6-1 SLC) will enter the postseason tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play third-seeded Northwestern State in the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. at the Jack Duggan Soccer Complex in Corpus Christi, Texas. The conference tournament appearance is McNeese's first since the 2014 season.
 
Regular season champion Central Arkansas received the No. 1 seed and first-round bye in the tourney while Stephen F. Austin finished second in the regular season standings and will also receive a first-round bye. Northwestern State is seeded third, Houston Baptist finished fourth and Southeastern Louisiana took fifth.
 
McNeese controlled the first half of the ball game with their attack and had several chances to take an early lead. The Cowgirls fired off five on goal shots that had a good look but it was Lamar's Rachel Gries that stood strong inside the posts and made a save on each shot.
 
The game was scoreless at halftime with the Cowgirls taking 13 shots to Lamar's nine shots. However, the Cardinals had four corner kicks while McNeese was limited to zero.
 
Lamar (2-14-3, 1-7-3 SLC) finally cracked the scoreboard in the 51st minute as M.J. Eckert scored her sixth goal of the year off of a corner kick from Samantha Moreno to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
 
Junior Nikki Schaaf had one last look at the net in the 88^th minute but once again it was Gries who came through and made the save. Lamar's goalie picked up seven saves on the night and posted her third shutout of the season.
 
McNeese goalkeeper Annie Bravenec collected five saves in the contest.
 
The Cowgirls outshot the Cardinals 22-13 with sophomore Nola Prickett leading the way with four shots, putting two on frame. Lamar led in corner kicks, 7-1.
 
More information on next week's SLC Tournament will be released in the coming days. Fans are able to check back at McNeeseSports.com as well as all the social media platforms for more on ticket prices, match information and more.