NATCHITOCHES, La. – Lauren Lovejoy matched her career high with nine saves to lead the Lamar University women's soccer team to a 3-1 win over host Northwestern State in a Southland Conference game Friday night.
 
Lovejoy made a number of acrobatic saves as the Cardinals (6-5-0 overall, 2-0-0 Southland) opened conference play with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2011.
 
"I'm really proud of this team," LU coach Orlando Cervantes said. "This was a great road win for us."
 
Lovejoy was especially busy in the second half, as Northwestern State (3-5-2, 0-1-1) pulled out all of the stops in attempting to battle back from a 2-0 halftime deficit.
 
"We knew they were going to come after us in the second half," Cervantes said. "They were really pushing up, but we found a way to counter it. Lauren did a good job until we settled down."
 
M.J. Eckart opened the scoring for LU with 18:53 remaining in the first half when she took a pass from Mari Olastuen directly in front of the goal and blasted a shot that snuck in under the crossbar over the outstretched hands of Northwestern State goalkeeper Brooke Bourbonais. It was the second goal of the season for Eckart, and the seventh assist for Olastuen, who extended her LU single-season record.
 
Juliana Ocampo increased the LU lead to 2-0 with 3:54 remaining in the first half on a nifty solo effort. Ocampo raced down the left side and chipped the ball over a diving Bourbonais for her third goal of the campaign.
 
"That was a big goal to put us up by two at the half," Cervantes said. "That gave us a nice cushion."
 
Northwestern State came out determined at the start of the second half, cut the LU lead to 2-1 less than 10 minutes into the second half when Jacqueline Manza rocketed a shot into the far upper corner on a shot Lovejoy had no chance on.
 
The Cardinals seemed to settle down after that, and increased the lead to 3-1 with 16:24 remaining in the second half when Jordan Mulnix pounced on a loose ball in the box and deposited past Northwestern State goalkeeper Alex Latham, who replaced Bourbonais at halftime. It was the seventh goal of the season for Mulnix.
 
"We took advantage of them having to press up," Cervantes said. "Jordan did a good job of finishing."
 
Cervantes said he knew the Lady Demons would prove to be a tough opponent.
 
Their coach (George Van Linder) does a great job to get them technically prepared," Cervantes said. "We knew they would be making adjustments throughout the game. We had to be ready to counter those adjustments."
 
The Cardinals will stay in Natchitoches on Friday night before departing for Conway, Ark., on Saturday morning for Sunday's 1 p.m. conference game at Central Arkansas. The team will p4ractice in Conway on Saturday.
 
"We'll just have a short practice to go over some things," Cervantes said. "We'll be ready to go on Sunday."
 
LU will leave Conway following Sunday's game as the Cardinals return home to prepare for conference home games against Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 and Sam Houston State at 1 p.m. Oct. 4.