The Lady Topper soccer team fell one game short of a trip to the NCAA Tournament as WKU fell to South Alabama 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship.

The loss came in the wake of an otherwise strong showing at the conference tournament, in San Marcos, Texas. The Lady Toppers beat Arkansas-Little Rock on Wednesday and Texas State on Friday to make it to the championship game.

The Lady Jaguars reached the title match by topping Arkansas State in PKs.

WKU and USA were relatively even in shot attempts —16 from the Lady Toppers and 14 from their opponent — but the difference in the game was shots on goal.  The Lady Jaguars mustered five to the WKU’s two, and all it took was USA forward Lauren Allison’s goal off of midfielder Morgan Motes assist to seal the deal in the 19th minute.

South Alabama was also more aggressive in the second half, outshooting WKU 11-5 in the later period.

It was the final career game for nine Lady Topper seniors. WKU’s senior class won 58 games and went to two Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship games in the past four years.

Four WKU players were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Tournament Team — senior midfielder Chrissy Tchoula, senior goalkeeper Nora Abolins, sophomore defender Alanna Clancey, and freshman forward Iris Dunn.