OXFORD, Miss. – For two Northwestern State players, competing on a high-profile stage in Mississippi will feel like home.

Junior midfielders Shelby Drope and Payton Roney return to their home state Sunday as the Lady Demons head to Ole Miss for a 7 p.m. match, which will be televised on SEC Network Plus.

Fans can catch the action Sunday by watching via the ESPN app or at WatchESPN.com by visiting http://es.pn/2atzSdn. Richard Cross (play-by-play) and Ian Banner (analyst) will have the call.

Drope, a Pontotoc, Miss. Native that grew up about 20 minutes from Oxford, said she'll soak in the hometown cheers Sunday.

"It'll be nice being so close to home so friends and family won't have to travel far to see me," Drope said. "I'll be excited to see a few old faces on the Ole Miss team as well.

"I played with (Rebel senior Addie Forbus) in club ball when we were younger and then with (senior) MacKenzie Dickerson more recently right before college. We want to put on a good show and do well against them."

Forbus scored two goals as No. 22 Ole Miss topped UL Lafayette 3-0 on Friday.

Roney didn't grow up in the shadow of Ole Miss, but Rebel senior Sara Coleman was her neighbor and both attended West Jones High in Laurel, Miss.

"I knew Sara's younger sister even better, but I played with Sara in high school and had a good relationship with her," Roney said. "Shelby and I played club ball with Dickerson, so that will be fun.

"My family packs up and tends to travel well wherever I go. I'll have grandparents, parents and my brother coming as well as a few friends that already texted saying they want to come. I want to put on a good show for them."

The rest of the Lady Demons (1-0), who won the season-opener 2-0 Friday at Little Rock, aren't strangers to big-time soccer, either.

NSU tied LSU 1-1 in Baton Rouge in 2015, producing in the program's first non-losing result against a Power Five member. The Lady Demons also played in front of more than 1,000 Texas A&M fans this past season, battling the then-No. 5 Aggies to a second-half draw after falling into a three-goal halftime deficit.

"We're excited about playing on TV in that type of atmosphere, and we tell that to every player we're recruiting," said NSU soccer coach George Van Linder. "I'd like to hope that our past experience can help us in this situation.

"It's not easy to play teams that are better than you on paper, but our players are accustomed to it and are comfortable with it. We think we have momentum because Little Rock is a really good team, and I'm excited that our players were able to withstand that pressure."

Junior goalkeeper Alex Latham made a career-high 13 saves to record her fifth career solo shutout.

NSU took advantage of its counterattack opportunities as Brittany Caserma (61^st minute) and April Trowbridge (82^nd minute) scored goals despite the Lady Demons being outshot 24-8.

With the win, NSU has been victorious in three straight season openers (LSU-Alexandria and Louisiana College).