Lady Jags drop season opener

It became a little flashback of the previous five meetings, Nicholls State’s reappearance at A.W. Mumford Stadium — the same high-spirited, relentless game. On Friday, in Southern’s home opener, NSU wasted no time rekindling a little of last year’s magic, improving to 6-0 all-time against SU.
NSU (2-0-1) scored three first-half goals and held on for a 3-1 victory.
Although SU (0-2-0) played fairly well, head coach John Knighten learned that his defense still has room for development.
“We need to work on the defensive phase of the game and the counter attack we’re in,” said Knighten. “That’s what learned, we made a lot of progress and just continue to develop.”
NSU senior forward Kaity Mattsson scored her fifth goal of the season early in the first half to make it 1-0. 24 minutes later Mattsson beat SU goalkeeper Simone Bray to make it 2-0. As time ticked away in the first half, junior forward Keisha Brown entertained a rebound of a blocked shot to score her first goal of the season to make it 3-0 heading into halftime.
Sticking to their gameplan, SU played their usual game to open up the second half and found characteristics of toughness when freshman forward Teara Richardson’s scored her first goal of the season midway through the second half.
Richardson’s goal snapped a streak of 295 consecutive shutout minutes delivered by the NSU defense dating back to the 2009 season finale against McNeese State.
Before the game, Knighten wanted to see how well his team could adjust to NSU’s overall style of play.
With that in mind, Knighten’s defense returned to control the second half although they we’re dominated early in the first.
“At halftime we talked to them and they rose to the occasion,” Knighten said. “They we’re able to stop the penetration and attack of Nicholls State.”
After Friday’s loss, SU traveled to Natchitoches, La., Sunday to play host to Northwestern State University. NSU (1-3-0) held on to a 4-0 lead against SU to pick up their first win of the season.
As for the upcoming contest Friday against Central Arkansas, Knighten believes his team will be prepared.
” We’re going to continue to work on business, that’s the first thing.” “Continue to attack and continue to work on patterns to move the ball forward as one unit.”