THIBODAUX, La. - Needing a victory to keep its postseason hopes alive, the Nicholls State University women's soccer team fell 5-0 to Northwestern State in the regular season finale Thursday night at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex.

Nicholls (4-9-5, 1-5-4 SLC) not only needed to knock off Northwestern State (12-4-3, 7-2-1 SLC), but also needed two other results to go in their favor. The Demons, however, came out and scored three first-half goals to spoil the Colonels' postseason hopes en route to an outright league title.

The Colonels surprised NSU in the opening minute when Mylea Riggle fired off a shot for an early scoring opportunity. But the visitors outshot Nicholls 11-0 the rest of the half as they took a commanding 3-0 lead.

Paige Baumgartner scored in the 11th minute, and then found Emily Senatore for a 2-0 advantage in the 19th minute. Then four minutes later, Riley Stern and Hosane Soukou passed the ball back-and-forth down the field until Stern snuck a shot into the back of the net.

In the second half, NSU added an own goal by the Colonels before Stern capped off the scoring with her second goal. In the final five minutes, Nicholls had a chance to end the shutout but Mia Gallina's penalty kick was batted away by Kennedy Rist for her third and final save.

Nicholls added seven shots after the break with Riggle and Sammi Doyle leading with two each on the night. Goalkeeper Aislinn Wright totaled nine saves and faced a total of 23 shots. 

Although Nicholls missed out on the postseason, the seven league points were the most for the program since 2017. The Colonels also notched an SLC victory for the first time since '18.