Box Score SIOUX FALLS – After leading for the majority of the game, University of Sioux Falls Soccer surrendered two goals late in the second half and suffered a 2-1 defeat to Northwest Missouri State on Saturday. The Cougars (1-1-0) took a lead in the 20th minute on Lauren LaFavre's goal, but the Bearcats (1-0-0) netted the equalizer in the 75th minute and took the lead one minute later.
 
USF took advantage of the wind at their back in the first half, recording three shots in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Chessa Novotny's two efforts from distance didn't find the frame and LaFavre's shot was blocked. After Morgan Lovato's effort missed wide right, the Cougars' forward movement was rewarded.
 
After a run from the back line, Kori Fink served the ball in from the end line and Novotny headed it toward the goal where LaFavre finished it with her right foot just inside the six-yard box. LaFavre's tally was her second of the season and it gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead over the Bearcats with 75 minutes to play.
 
Northwest Missouri State nearly knotted the game a few minutes later when Brianna Hersom's shot from the left of the box caromed off the cross bar. In the 38th minute, USF goalkeeper Morgan Perkins made the first of her six saves with a stop to keep Sioux Falls ahead entering intermission.
 
With the wind in favor of NWMSU, Perkins was put to test early in the second half, but she was up to task, turning away two shots in the 55th minute, including a strike from just outside the 18-yard box off a free kick. USF appeared to have doubled their lead when LaFavre snuck past the Northwest back line and looped the ball over the keeper for her second score of the game, but she was ruled offside, negating the goal.
 
The Bearcats continued to pressure the USF back line before capitalizing on a both the wind and a misplayed ball by the Cougars. A long serve deflected off a Cougar defender and NWMSU's Taylor Wolfe directed it into the goal past Perkins.
 
Less than two minutes later, Northwest Missouri State seized the lead when Mollie Holtman took a through ball and scored on from the corner of the box, beating Perkins on the far post for a 2-1 advantage.
 
Keeping the Cougars alive, Perkins stood tall in goal. She stopped a shot in the 78th minute from close range then laid out for a diving save three minutes later to keep the Cougars down one.
 
As the Cougars shifted their shape in hopes of scoring the tying goal, LaFavre and Becca Schmitz both had scoring chances blocked by NWMSU defenders and the Bearcats held onto their lead to hand USF their first loss of the year.
 
Sioux Falls hits the road next weekend, heading to Marshall, Minn. to face Southwest Minnesota State for both teams' Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference openers on Friday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m.