NATCHITOCHES – Minutes after Northwestern State's Esdeina Gonzalez scored a goal with 10 seconds remaining in double overtime Oct. 9 to beat Sam Houston State, coach George Van Linder heard something he'd been waiting all season to hear.

"As the players were cooling down, I heard a player say that we can compete with anybody in the conference," Van Linder said. "There was a lot of celebration after the win, but it was great to hear that so soon after the win.

"It's something (the coaches) have been telling them for quite awhile."

The 2-1 win against the then-second place Bearkats lifted NSU (4-7-3, 1-3-2 Southland Conference) out of the league cellar and into the mix for a conference tournament spot.

The Lady Demons have succeeded against the league's top teams so far, and NSU will need to continue that stretch at home Friday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-8-2, 2-3-1 SLC) at 4 p.m.

NSU sits in 10^th place in the 12-team league with five points. The top six postseason-eligible teams in the SLC make the conference tournament, and the Lady Demons are two points behind sixth eligible team (TAMU-CC) if the conference tournament started Thursday. Three points are awarded for each conference win and one point for a tie.

"This is a big weekend for us. I hate to keep overdoing it to where every game is this big, but it's the truth," said Van Linder, whose Lady Demons host third place Houston Baptist (6-4-1, 4-2) on Sunday at 1 p.m. "The (TAMU-CC) game was a heckuva game last year, and they are similar to us this year in that they are better than their record.

"We try to find a good balance when talking about the standings, but our team needs to know that now is the time to really be urgent instead of two weeks from now."

NSU hasn't appeared in the SLC tournament since 2008, although the Lady Demons have suffered several near misses in recent seasons. NSU lost a tiebreaker in 2009 before falling one point shy in 2010 and two points shy in 2013.

Of the five matches left this season, four are against teams that would currently make the tournament.

But NSU has performed better against the league's best this season, posting a 1-1-1 mark against current tournament teams compared to an 0-2-1 mark against the bottom four.

Gonzalez, who is tied for second on the team with three goals, said the Sam Houston State win boosted NSU's confidence and lightened the team's mood.

"We've been super happy the last few days, and everybody looks at me and just smiles," Gonzalez said. "Random people come up to me and tell me 'Good job' and 'Great goal.'

"We have a lot of confidence, but we know we have to improve to increase our confidence even more."

The Islanders also enter Friday's match riding a momentum wave, recording their first two wins of the season against then-second place Southeastern and Incarnate Word in consecutive one-goal victories.
NSU has won the only two matches against TAMU-CC in school history, recording a pair of shutouts the last two seasons.

Sophomore goal keeper Alex Latham started the last two matches, pitching a shutout against Incarnate Word with a one-goal performance against Sam Houston State. Latham lowered her goals-against average to 1.18, fourth-best in the league.

Freshmen forwards Brittany Caserma and Kayleigh Phillips each lead the team in scoring with four goals.

The Islanders' nine goals scored are the least in the league, and TAMU-CC has allowed 23 goals in 12 contests.