Box Score


 
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana senior forward Maiya Cooper moved into second place on the school's career goals list, but an early two-goal deficit was too much for the Lady Lions to overcome in a 2-1 loss to Mississippi State in the season opener for both teams Friday night at the MSU Soccer Field.
 
Southeastern (0-1) lost its season opener for the first time since the 2005 season, despite Cooper finding the net for the 38^th time in her Lady Lion career. The goal moved the Hawthorne, Calif. native into a tie with 2012 Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Kendra Oney on the career list.
 
Southeastern senior goalkeeper Lacey Bockhaus' first start in nearly 19 months was an active one, as Mississippi State was credited with 34 shots. After allowing a pair of shots to get past in the first half, the San Leandro, Calif. product kept MSU off the board in the second half. Bockhaus, who missed all of 2011 after earning Southland Conference Co-Player of the Year honors as a junior, finished the match with 11 saves.
 
Despite the loss, Southeastern head coach Blake Hornbuckle was encouraged by his team's opening performance, while also acknowledging the Lady Lions still have progress to make.
 
“We gave up two early goals because of miscommunication, so we need to avoid those types of mistakes going forward,” Hornbuckle commented. “We tightened up some in the second half and we put some pressure on in the final minutes and had some good chances to send the match to overtime. We didn't give our best performance tonight, but we did a nice job hanging in with an SEC opponent.”
 
Several individual earned praise from Hornbuckle for their play in the opener.
 
“Maiya was excellent up top and Kelsey Salcido was a dynamo for us in the midfield,” Hornbuckle said. “Shanyce Shaw was excellent for us in the back. Lacey had some early miscues, but once she got going she was very good. She made some big stops in the second half and we were fortunate to have her presence in goal tonight.”
 
Mississippi State took the early lead in the 23^rd minute, as freshman Honeye Heydari corralled a loose ball and knocked it past Bockhaus for a 1-0 Bulldog advantage.
 
After Bockhaus turned away several MSU attempts in the following minutes, junior Sasha Vrany came off the bench and seconds later headed in a cross from freshman Mary Kathryn Taylor to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the opening half.
 
Southeastern would not give in, however, as the team's top two scorers from a season ago hooked up with just over three and a half minutes left in the first half. Cooper took a feed from fellow preseason first team All-Southland performer Kelsey Salcido to pull Southeastern to within 2-1 and send the Lady Lions into the break with momentum.
 
The Bulldogs came out firing in the second half, but Bockhaus kept Southeastern within a goal with stellar play in the final period. The Southland Conference's career shutouts leader faced 19 shots after halftime, making nine saves in the final 45 minutes.
 
Southeastern had two chances in the final minutes, but senior goalkeeper Skylar Rosson turned away a shot by Southeastern freshman Casey Peacock. With just under two minutes left, the Lady Lions were awarded a corner kick, but nobody could get on the other end of junior midfielder Jen Babcock's effort.  
 
Southeastern will return to action on Friday, Aug. 24, when it travels to Alcorn State for a 4 p.m. match in Lorman, Miss.