COMMERCE, Texas—A familiar in-state opponent awaits Northwestern State soccer team today as the Southland Conference Tournament begins.
For the second consecutive season, third-seeded NSU (9-9) takes on sixth-seeded McNeese (9-7-3) in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on the campus of East Texas A&M.
Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. for a contest that can be watched on ESPN+.
In last year’s matchup, the game went into overtime before Kendall Hemperley scored in the 100th minute to give the Demons a 1-0 victory.
McNeese won the first matchup 4-1 early this month in Lake Charles.
“That was probably our worst game of the season in terms of our execution,” NSU coach Ian Brophy said. “For us, it’s the perfect game in terms of getting some redemption and having the ability to set things right. It is the first round of the conference tournament, and we know we have something to prove.”
NSU had one player — Riley Stern — voted to the All-SLC team, while McNeese had four, including first team selection Rhiannon Maynes-Tourond.
It is the second straight all-conference selection for Stern after making the first team a season ago.
For the season, Stern had five goals and six assists with two goals in Southland play.
While the Demons only had one on the all-conference, the team is a sum of its parts. While NSU led the league in goals scored during Southland play, only Tiana Cruz has scored more than two goals in league play, and she found the back of the net three times.
“It’s been great this season not just having to rely on one or two main scorers,” graduate forward Paige Baumgartner said. “We’ve had so many players score at least five goals and it proves we have a really good attacking offense.”
The Demons have advanced to the semifinals in each of the last five seasons and six of the last seven.
The winner plays the winner of No. 2 Houston Christian and the host school No. 7 East Texas A&M in the semifinals on Thursday.