Northwestern State’s soccer team came back from surrendering an early goal to win going away Thursday night for its 15th straight homefield victory, but the Demon volleyball team couldn’t topple the Southland Conference’s leaer that is riding its own impressive streak.
SOCCER: After not recording a come-from-behind win among the 13 victories a season ago, NSU (6-6, 3-1) came from behind to pull off a triumph for the third time this season.
This time, the Demons rallied to knock off perennial Southland Conference contender East Texas A&M (2-7-3, 1-3) 3-1 on Thursday evening with three unanswered goals after the Lions scored early.
“We feel comfortable that we can come back in the game, even down a goal, especially at home,” head coach Ian Brophy said. “We are really confident on this field, and we know what we can do here and how we play and what the standards are.
“While we weren’t up to our standard in the first half, we were confident that we could have a really good second half. At 1-1, I knew if we could have a really good second half, we’ll win the match.”
NSU collected goals in the first half from Iesha Rollins and in the second from Maliya Maldonado and Riley Stern to walk away with its 15th consecutive unbeaten home contest, which extends a program record, as well as ninth straight home win.
The three goals against ETAMU are tied for the most goals surrendered by the Lions this season.
The Lions controlled much of the first half, but the Demons battled back and tied in the 38th minute off the foot of Rollins.
Next up for the Demons is a trip to Corpus Christi to play the Islanders Sunday before coming back home for a battle with Houston Christian next Thursday night.
VOLLEYBALL: The Demons fell in straight sets, but quite competitively, to the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros 25-21, 25-20 and 25-18 Thursday night at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons (10-10, 2-3 Southland) were not overwhelmed by the league-leading Vaqueros (9-7, 5-0), who posted their 20th consecutive conference victory dating back to early last season.
“UTRGV has a really balanced attack,” said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. “They can both move around and create angles that are hard to defend. We would get in there and take something away from their game play but then to change it and adjust is what makes them really good. That’s why they’ve been so successful in the league.”
NSU plays host to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (6-10, 4-1 SLC) Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. to wrap up a four-game Southland homestand. The Islanders won on the road Thursday as they defeated East Texas A&M (8-10, 2-3 SLC) 3-1.
FOOTBALL: The Demons are open this weekend and resume competition with two straight home games, starting next Saturday at noon in Turpin Stadium against McNeese.