HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Lamar University Cardinals suffered their most heartbreaking loss of the season, as they saw a 2-0 lead go by the wayside in a 3-2 loss to the host Sam Houston State Bearkats in a Southland Conference women's soccer game on Sunday.
 
"This was our toughest loss of the season," a dejected LU coach Steve Holeman said after the game. "The girls gave it everything they had, and deserved to come out of here with three points. To come away with nothing is really disappointing."
 
The loss just made a long day even longer for the Cardinals, as the game started 25 minutes behind schedule due to late-arriving officials, who thought the game started at 2 p.m., not the 1 p.m. scheduled starting time.
 
The Cardinals (1-11-1 overall, 0-4-1 Southland) got on the board first as M.J. Eckart scored on a header of a corner kick from Samanth[PM1] a Moreno at the 11:21 mark. It was the team-leading fifth goal of the season and the 10^th of her career, putting her into a tie with Lisa Topping and Alexus Aviles for sixth place on LU's all-time list.
 
"That was just a beautiful goal," Holeman said of Eckart's tally. "It was great corner kick from Sam, and M.J. made no mistake."
 
The Cardinals increased their lead to 2-0 with 15:42 remaining in the first half as Jordan Mulnix took a pass from Marie Lund, raced down the left side and beat a defender before firing a shot past Sam Houston State goalkeeper Anna Kaiser for her second goal of the season.
 
"Jordan did a great job on that goal," Holeman said. "That was really fun to watch."
 
With the goal, Mulnix moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time LU scoring list with 32 points.
 
The Cardinals outshot the Bearkats (2-10-1, 2-2-1) 8-2 over the first 45 minutes. LU had 10 corner kicks in the first half, en route to a school-record 14 corner kicks for the contest.
 
"We dominated the first half," Holeman said. "Unfortunately, it was a tale of two halves, and Sam Houston State outplayed us in the second half."
 
The Bearkats outshot LU 8-1 in the second half as they rallied from a 2-0 deficit for the second time in their last three games.
 
Sam Houston State got on the board with 27:55 remaining in the second half when Bailey Strong scored directly off a corner kick to put the Bearkats on the board.
 
Sam Houston State tied the game with 8:42 remaining in regulation, once again making the most of a corner kick, as Allie Johnson corralled a bouncing ball and managed to get it past LU goalkeeper Lauren Lovejoy.
 
The Cardinals appeared to have a golden opportunity to take the lead late in the game when the ball deflected off the hand of a Sam Houston State player in the penalty area, but referee Jorge Luna Hernandez waved it off.
 
The Bearkats won the toss to start overtime and didn't waste much time in taking advantage as Johnson got behind the LU defense and buried her second goal of the game, and sixth of the season, past Lovejoy just 40 seconds into the extra frame.
 
"Give Sam Houston State credit," Holeman said. "They took advantage of a giveaway and won the game. They were the better team in the second half."
 
Lovejoy made three saves for the Cardinals, while Kaiser made one save for the Bearkats.
 
LU returns home at 7 p.m. Friday to Southeastern Louisiana in the annual Power of Pink game to raise awareness of breast-cancer research. The Cardinals, are home for four of their six remaining games, and need a win to bolster their tournament hopes.
 
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