The Northwestern State soccer team is defending Southland Conference champion, so its homefield win Thursday night over Lamar wasn’t a big shock, just a quality start to the title defense.
Over in Houston, the Demons volleyball squad continued its impressive resurgence in coach Ben Kaszeta’s second season with a 3-1 victory at Houston Christian.
The contests were the conference openers for both NSU teams. The soccer squad goes to SFA Sunday while volleyball stays on the road for a Saturday visit to meet UIW in San Antonio.
Meanwhile, the Lady Demon tennis team is also in Houston to play in a weekend tournament at Rice.
SOCCER: Through eight games, the Demons had achieved a number of single game goals this season. But one they desperately wanted was a clean sheet.
NSU (4-5, 1-0) earned just that in a hard-fought 2-0 win over Lamar (4-2-3, 1-1) on Thursday night at the Demon Soccer Complex.
“I thought we played really well from the opening whistle,” head coach Ian Brophy said. “We played our style of soccer and controlled the match and kept good possession.
“It was a good first half, but I was really happy with how we played in the second half and came out and was able to put the foot on the gas a little bit and really start pushing and scoring a couple goals and put the game away. We were able to keep a clean sheet and score a few goals, so I am really happy with the night overall.”
Goalkeeper Audrey Marfia recorded five saves and made numerous interceptions on crosses to thwart Lamar offensive opportunities, as she posted her first shutout of the season and the second in her career.
After a scoreless first half, Emily Gundin and Riley Stern found the back of the net to give the Demons the home victory, their 14th straight unbeaten home contest, which is a new program record. It is also NSU’s seventh straight home win.
VOLLEYBALL: Houston Christian Huskies Thursday night 3-1 (24-26, 25-22. 25-23 and 25-16) at Sharp Gymnasium in the Southland Conference opener for both teams.
The Demons (9-7, 1-0 SLC) hit some landmarks as they won at Sharp Gym over the Huskies. (2-11, 0-1 SLC).
“This group is tightly knit,” said Kaszeta. “They work! We did get a little bothered in set one and resorted back to some bad habits. But I loved that we were able to regroup.”
The win was the first for the Demons on the road against HCU since Oct. 9, 2014. It was also the first conference win for the Demons since Nov. 14, 2024, when they beat New Orleans 3-1 at home. NSU also got its first road conference win since Oct. 28, 2023, when it beat Lamar 3-0.
The Demons are now 8-1 in their last nine matches.
TENNIS: The Lady Demons hit the road for the first time this fall, traveling to Houston to take part in the Rice Invite at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. Northwestern’s second of six fall tournaments is a three-day affair that begins this morning and runs through Sunday.
It is the first of three straight trips to Texas across the next four weeks for the Lady Demons.