HOUSTON – Madison Ledet of Nederland scored her first career goal and Lauren Lovejoy of Port Neches-Groves recorded her third straight shutout as the Lamar Cardinals defeated the Texas Southern Lady Tigers 3-0 in a non-conference women’s soccer game Thursday night.

With the win, the Cardinals (5-2-0) tied a school record for the most nonconference wins in a season, equaling the mark set by the 2012 club.

Ledet scored 20:02 into the opening half as she put a shot past Texas Southern goalkeeper Alexis Robles. Kelso Peskin started the play with a throw-in deep in Texas Southern territory. Peskin’s throw went to M.J. Eckart, who deflected the ball to Ledet.

Lucy Ashworth had a glorious scoring opportunity to make it 2-0 a little more than 2 minutes later as she fired a shot past Robles, only to have a Texas Southern defender stop the shot on the goal line.

LU dominated the first half on the stat sheet, outshooting the Lady Tigers 14-2.

The Cardinals struggled to adjust to the narrow Texas Southern field in the early going. The dimensions at TSU’s Durley Stadium are 120 yards by 56 yards, 14 yards narrower than the NCAA minimum of 70 yards.

“It was a challenge to play on such a narrow field,” LU coach Steve Holeman said. “We didn’t find out about it until we arrived. But in a way, it worked out in our favor as we were able to get two goals on throw-ins.”

Samantha Moreno made it 2-0 early in the second half on another play started by a Peskin throw-in. Peskin’s throw went to Marie Lund, who was unable to get a shot off. However, a Texas Southern defender knocked it to right to Moreno, who her scored her second of the season.

Jordan Mulnix made it 3-0 with 17:55 remaining in the second half as she took a pass from Tori Alaniz while all alone in front of the net, depositing it past Robles for her team-leading third goal of the season.

That was more than enough support for Lovejoy, who needed to make one save for her fourth shutout of the season. The senior netminder has not allowed a goal in the last 281 minutes, 10 seconds.

“It certainly helps when the people in front of her are doing their job,” Holeman said. “Our backline was steady all night.”

LU outshot Texas Southern 27-3 on the night and held an 11-1 advantage in shots on goal.

The Cardinals close out the non-conference portion of their schedule when they travel to the University of Houston at 5 p.m. Sunday. Houston is 2-2 on the season heading into its home game vs. Southern Miss on Friday night. The Cougars were 3-0 winners at home vs. Texas Southern earlier this season.