Kaity Mattsson's first half goal was the first of the year in conference play for Nicholls.
Box Score and Play-by-Play
THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University women's soccer team (6-7-1, 0-5-0 Southland Conference) battled the Sam Houston State Bearkats (8-8-1, 4-2-0 Southland) through a fast tempo first half, trailing 2-1 at the break, but the Colonels fell victim to a trio of second half Bearkat goals en route to a 5-1 loss in the finale of the Colonels' longest homestand of the season on Sunday.
Sam Houston State struck first as Emily Edenstrom took a cross from Kirby Zak from just inside the box before beating the Nicholls defense to the top right shelf to put SHSU up 1-0 at the 7:50 mark. However, the Colonels immediately answered as Nicholls took the ensuing kickoff and charged upfield.
Senior forward
Kaity Mattsson collected a pass from freshman forward
Alexandra Marino before beating Bearkat keeper Jenny Pence for her 12th goal of the season. Mattsson's strike knotted the score at 1-1 just 17 seconds after the Bearkats first goal. It marked the first Colonel goal in five conference matches and snapped a scoreless streak of 386 minutes, 7 seconds for Nicholls.
Unfortuantely, the Bearkats answered less than two minutes later. Amanda Biega put home a strike from across her body at the top of the penalty box to put SHSU up 2-1 at the 9:45 mark.
The Colonel defense kept SHSU off the board the rest of the half to send it to halftime with Nicholls down just one. However, the Bearkat offense came out strong in the second half. The Colonels kept SHSU at bay for the 16 minutes of the second half, but the Bearkats scored a pair of goals within a three minute stretch. The Bearkats went up 3-1 in the 62nd minute as SHSU scored through traffic off a corner kick, and a 65th minute strike by Natalie Johnson made it 4-1. Twenty minutes later, the Bearkats added an insurance goal in the 85th minute for the 5-1 win.
The contest with the Bearkats ended a three-match homestand for Nicholls, their longest of the season. The Colonels will return to action on Oct. 22 when they visit defending regular season conference champion Texas State. After a trip to Texas-San Antonio on Oct. 24, the Colonels return to Nicholls to conclude the 2010 regular season with an Oct. 29 match against Northwestern State in the Colonels' annual "Kick for the Cure" Breast Cancer Awareness Match. Nicholls will conclude the regular season on Oct. 31 against Central Arkansas.
