Thursday’s 1-0 result against LSU will go down as a loss for Western Kentucky.

But the way the Lady Toppers played on their home field against a Southeastern Conference team had coach Jason Neidell feeling positive after the game.

“I thought we played really well,” Neidell said. “We had a couple of mistakes, one that ended up being costly on the corner kick early.

“But I’m really, really proud of our kids. I thought we had tremendous effort tonight.

WKU (3-3-0) outshot the Tigers 11-10, held a 7-2 edge on corner kicks and tied LSU 4-4 in shots on goal.

But it was a goal by Tiger midfielder Delaney Sheehan 5:08 into the game that made the difference for LSU (4-3-0).

The Lady Toppers spent the next 84-plus minutes trying to put a goal in the back of the net, but came up short in front of a crowd of 541.

“I thought we controlled the tempo of the game really, really well,” Neidell said. “I think at the end of the day we just knew we’d have to be more efficient.

“We created enough chances but shooting it high, shooting it wide, I just think we need to be more efficient in the box.”

The Tigers’ early goal came off a corner kick. Defender Marlena Cutura sent a ball to the back post, where Sheehan was waiting.

The junior Sheehan headed it past WKU goalkeeper Allison Leone and into the back of the net to put the visitors up 1-0.

LSU’s goal came as a result of “just not being focused and aware of runners coming in,” Lady Tops midfielder Caitlin Hesse said. “We need to work on doing that better.”

WKU spent the rest of the night attacking but couldn’t slip any of its 11 shots past Tigers goalkeeper Caroline Brockmeier.

Midfielder Christina Bragado led the Lady Toppers with three total shots and two shots on goal. Forward Iris Dunn and defender Haley Baldridge tallied one shot on goal each.

“I think we played really well,” defender Olivia Fitzgerald said. “I was really happy with our performance.

“I think one of our goals before the game was to play with courage and focus and I think we did both of those.”

WKU’s loss Thursday came against an LSU team that beat the Lady Tops 4-1 last fall in Baton Rouge, La. WKU was looking for its third win against an SEC team and first since a 2008 victory against Ole Miss.

The Tigers had the talent of an SEC team but Neidell said his team was able to match that with its level of play, especially in the midfield. Bragado, Hesse, Sarah Gorham and Nicole Roseland saw most of the time in midfield.

“That’s a pretty athletic team we played and that’s one of the things we told the girls before the game is we were going to have to compete athletically,” Neidell said. “Their athleticism is (up) here, ours is (down) here and we’re going to have to narrow that gap somehow.

“I thought our girls did a great job of that tonight and I thought we did a great job building the ball through the midfield. We were just a little unfortunate, I think, tonight.”

Even with the loss Thursday, WKU is still on pace to shatter its mark of 20 goals scored during the 2015 season. The Lady Toppers have scored 15 goals through six matches, with five coming from freshman forward Chandler Backes.

WKU hosts Morehead State in a nonconference matchup at 1 p.m. Sunday before starting Conference USA play at 6 p.m. Thursday at Marshall.

“Our kids have to feel really, really good about the improvements we’ve made,” Neidell said. “I think at this point we’re ready for conference play.”

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