CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - McNeese's soccer program (8-7-4, 5-3-2 SLC) tied with Southeastern (6-10-2, 4-5-1 SLC) 1-1 before advancing in the tournament on a penalty kick shootout 4-3 at Dr. Jack Dugan Soccer and Track Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

"Our team has been resilient all year so we felt good that if we gave one up, we would still be in the game," said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. When talking about the shootout, he said, "We told them we have the best goalkeeper in the conference. We'll be fine."

In just the fifth minute of action, junior Kaile Kukaua scored the first goal of the match with an assist by freshman Morgan Fiedler to give the blue and gold a 1-0 advantage.

McNeese held the 1-0 advantage until the 53rd minute of action when Nicole O'Neill scored the game-tying goal.

After playing 90 minutes of regulation and sitting tied 1-1, both teams headed into two overtime periods, the first for the Southland Conference this season, eventually partaking in a shootout.

Both teams made their first two penalty kicks before junior Jackie Kelly earned a save on the third attempt by the Lions. McNeese made two more before Southeastern missed its final attempt for the Cowgirls to advance on penalty kicks, 4-3.

The blue and gold return to the pitch for the Southland Conference semifinals Friday at 4 p.m. against the winner between Texas A&M-Commerce and HCU.

Notes
- Kaile scored her seventh goal of the season after entering the season without a career goal.
- This was McNeese's first shootout since the 2017 SLC Tournament where they fell to Abilene Christian 3-5 in PKs.
- The PK shootout win is the first in program history.
- This was Kelly's first career shootout.
- Kelly earned 10 saves in the outing, eight of which came in regulation.
- The Cowgirls were outshot 19-11 on the pitch.
- McNeese continues to average only one goal per game.
- This is the first time the Cowgirls advanced in a tournament since 2021.