LAKE CHARLES – It was missed opportunities that doomed the McNeese women's soccer team Sunday afternoon as the Cowgirls dropped a 1-0 decision to a tough ULM squad at Cowgirl Field.
 
McNeese has now lost three consecutive matches to fall to a 3-3 overall mark on the season while Sunday's victory pulled the Warhawks up to a 3-4-1 record.
 
"I thought it was a hard fought game on both sides," said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. "I think that they had a nice game plan coming in and gave us some trouble, but at the end of the day we have to find a way to put one in the back of the net."
 
The Cowgirls were aggressive on offense the whole way and it showed in the final stats as they led 16-9 in total shots, including a 9-5 advantage in the first half. However, McNeese or ULM were unable to mount enough offense to penetrate the sturdy defenses and were knotted up at the half.
 
It was seven minutes into the second half where the Warhawks were able to slip past the stingy McNeese defense and sink in a header off of a corner kick and take a 1-0 lead.
 
However, the Cowgirls would not quit and would go on to show enough fight to give them an opportunity to score highlighted by junior Gabi D'Alesandro's near goal in the 56^th minute of action. D'Alesandro would fire off another good shot in the 77^th minute but was negated by a save from the ULM goalie.
 
Bettina Brulhart would take another good shot for McNeese towards the closing of the game as her hard shot missed just high of the net in the 82^nd minute.
 
"We gave up one on the corner kick that we shouldn't have but the game we played well," said Fitzgerald. We possessed the ball a bit today and looked better than we have in our last two games. I'm not happy with the loss but I am happy with how our team is playing."
 
LaRicci led the squad with five shots on the day while Sutherland had two shots on goal. Goalkeeper Annie Bravenec suffered the loss despite making four saves in the agme.
 
ULM held a 6-5 advantage in corner kicks while McNeese committed eight fouls to the Warhawks' six.
 
McNeese hits the road again on Friday when it travels to Hammond to open up Southland Conference play against Southeastern Louisiana beginning at 7 p.m.