The Northwestern State soccer team aims to bounce back tonight at 7 when it welcomes Southeastern Louisiana to the Demon Soccer Complex to begin an action-packed homecoming weekend.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. for a contest that can be viewed on ESPN+.
“It should be another good game,” Northwestern coach Ian Brophy said. “They’re off to a hot start to conference play with two wins and a tie. We know it will be a really tough game and we know we’ll have to go in and fight for a win and do all the little details we’re working on in practice and getting things right. If we do that, then hopefully we can protect home field and come away with a big three points.”
The Demons are honoring former player Heather Penico, the 2005 Southland Conference Player of the Year, who led the Demons to the NCAA Tournament and is being inducted into the N-Club Hall of Fame on Saturday, the sixth member of the soccer program to be inducted.
She joins Britiany Cargill, Erin Hebert, Holly Horn Broussard, Hillarie Marshall Coleman and Missy Payne Howe.
“Seeing these former athletes just goes to show you the history of this program that has won five Southland championships,” Brophy said. “It shows the program’s traditional success here, fighting for titles year in and year out, so it is great to see these ladies get recognized. I was really happy to see Hillarie get recognized last year, so we are really looking forward to Heather being recognized this year.”
It is also alumni night, as at least seven former NSU athletes are making the return to the Soccer Complex.
This year’s NSU (6-3-3) team is coming off a heartbreaking 1-0 loss at Houston Christian, despite outshooting the Huskies 17-7.
The Demons and Lady Lions (3-4-3, 2-0-1) are no strangers to tight contests against one another.
NSU and SLU have clashed in epic contests in recent times, as 11 of the last 12 contests have been decided by no more than one goal, including last season’s tournament game won by the Demons and the Lady Lions’ 2-1 win in Hammond during last year’s regular season.
NSU has been locking down opponents during a 10-game stretch, as the Demons have allowed just four goals during those 10 and NSU has allowed no more than one goal in any of them.
SLU has started out league play undefeated, beating UTRGV and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and tying Stephen F. Austin.
VOLLEYBALL: The Demon volleyball team gets back into action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Edinburg, Texas, against the UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros as Southland Conference play continues.
The Demons (1-15, 0-2 SLC) showed signs of progress despite Saturday’s loss to Houston Christian (7-8, 2-0 SLC). NSU had the match tied at 20-20 in the first set before falling 25-20 and then trailed just 24-23 in the third set before HCU clinched the win.
“It’s all a process,” said Demons coach Ben Kaszeta. “The results are important, but we can’t get too focused on it to where we are so worried about it that we don’t get better. Our energy and effort have been really good but now we have to start matching it with some execution.”
The Demons enter the weekend leading the conference in aces (100) led by junior Jade Longlad. The Calgary, Canada native has 33 aces which also leads the league and is tied for fifth in the nation. The University of Central Florida’s Skylar English has 38 to lead the country.
