Western Kentucky’s women’s soccer team dropped a season-opening 1-0 decision to host Murray State on Friday.

Junior Chandler Backes led the way for the WKU attack, putting three of her four shots on goal, and freshmen Ambere Barnett and Olivia Stanley each put at least one try on goal, as well. Murray State outshot the Lady Toppers 18-9, but held only a slim 7-6 advantage in shots on goal across the 90 minutes.

Barnett joined fellow freshmen Lyric Schmidt and Chelsea Moore in the starting lineup in their regular season debut, with all three seeing at least 51 minutes of playing time Friday.

Goalkeeper Anne-Marie Ulliac drew the start for the Lady Toppers, but freshman Bailee Witt came on in the eighth minute for the remainder of the match. Despite giving up the early goal, Witt recovered and finished with six saves in her first official collegiate match.

Murray State scored three minutes after Witt was brought in to replace Ulliac. Abby Jones tallied for the Racers off a Kayla Travis assist after Witt got a hand on the ball but could not parry it away.

WKU will be back in action Sunday at 6 p.m. as the Lady Toppers visit Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. The Rebels are receiving votes in the first United Soccer Coaches poll of the season and return the SEC’s leading scorer from 2017 in CeCe Kizer.

WKU and Ole Miss have squared off on the pitch two times in program history, with WKU holding a 1-0-1 lead in the series. In the most recent meeting, the two sides battled to a scoreless draw Aug. 27, 2010, in Oxford.