NATCHITOCHES -- As the Northwestern State soccer program celebrated its first-ever votes in a national poll this week, coach George Van Linder said he's reminded his team of one thing.
 
"We still haven't done anything yet," Van Linder said after the Lady Demons received six votes in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, the primary coaches poll used by the NCAA.
 
That's because NSU (8-5, 5-1 Southland Conference) still hasn't secured its primary goal of reaching its first conference tournament since 2008.
 
The Lady Demons, who are tied for second with Stephen F. Austin (8-3, 5-1), can reach that benchmark this weekend with trips to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-12, 1-5) on Friday and fifth-place Houston Baptist (5-7-1, 3-2-1) on Sunday. Friday's match kicks off at 7 p.m. with Sunday's match starting at 1 p.m.
 
"It's nice to get that recognition, but the polls are still the polls," Van Linder said. "It's recognition in a lot of different ways, and it's recognition for the Southland Conference as well.
 
"All of our games have been really close, and there are a couple of other teams in our conference that are certainly worthy of this as well."
 
With a win Friday, NSU would have its longest conference winning streak since 2000. The Lady Demons' current streak is five wins -- all by one goal -- and the 2000 squad strung together nine straight wins against conference opponents en route to a conference regular season title, tournament title and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
NSU's eight total wins are already the most in the five-year Van Linder era, but a pair of wins this weekend would be NSU's first double-digit mark since 2009 and the program's sixth season of double-digit wins in its 21^st overall season.
 
The Lady Demons will have to handle an excited Islanders' squad that won its first match of the season Friday by beating a dangerous Incarnate Word team 2-1 in overtime.
 
"One thing we're realizing is that every game is tough, and our scores reflect that," Van Linder said. "(Corpus Christi) is on a high right now, and it's a long road trip right next to the beach.
 
"We're a confident team right now, and even though we've left some (offensive) chances on the field, we're finishing more of those opportunities that we didn't finish in the past."
 
Islanders coach Shanna Caldwell, who was Van Linder's assistant at Baylor, led the Islanders to the conference tournament in 2015 with a program-best five conference wins.
 
Senior Camilia Ardila is the only NSU player who has been with the team each of the last three seasons, and she's enjoying the success after enduring some gut-wrenching moments in past seasons.
 
"Experience definitely has a lot to do with the success we've had this season," Ardila said. "Everyone comes in early and practices their shooting and in other areas.
 
"It feels great to be able to experience the results of the hard work. We've worked hard every year, and we should have made it in the past We've come close but have come up short of our goals. It feels good to finally win and have a winning record."