Box Score HAMMOND- Southeastern Louisiana built a 2-0 lead then held off a late McNeese rally to down the Cowgirls 2-1 in the Southland Conference women's soccer opener for both teams on Friday night.

The loss marked the third straight suffered by McNeese (5-4, 0-1 SLC) while SLU (4-2-1, 1-0) won for the second straight time.

"I think we played a pretty good game overall, but lapses on defense on a corner and a free kick proved costly," said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. "We moved the ball well overall tonight but still need to clean up the final third where we just weren't dangerous enough." 

SLU scored just nine minutes into the game on a goal by Jamie Raines, her third netter of the season, to put the Lions up 1-0. That scored remained at the half even though the Cowgirls outshot the Lions by a 7-5 margin and 5-3 shots on goal advantage.

The lead built to 2-0 in the 57^th minute on a goal by Brogan Bernades.

The Cowgirls wouldn't go down without a fight though. Isa Kembel scored on a breakaway goal in the 89^th minute to cut the margin to 2-1, her first goal of her career. But the clock ran out before the Cowgirls were able to knot things up.

"I thought Southeastern executed their game plan well and made it tough for us to create chances," said Fitzgerald.

The Cowgirls will look to bounce back on Sunday when they visit Jackson State to bring an end to a four-game, two-week road trip.