DALLAS, Texas – When Northwestern State visited SMU one year ago, midfielder Cayla Klinger was an oft-injured player who logged just 23 minutes in that contest.
 
But the Keller, Texas, native, which is in the Dallas Metroplex area, is healthy now and playing a larger role as the Lady Demons (1-1) play the Mustangs on Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Despite playing in a deep midfield group, Klinger is garnering more minutes and has one of the team's two assists this season in a 2-0 win at Little Rock this past week.
 
"It finally feels great to be part of it," Klinger said. "It sucks to be on the bench and watching everything.
 
"The assist is the first big thing that's happened to me since I've been back. It's a really cool feeling to play close to home because you're playing in front of people you know. You want to go out there and play well in front of them and show them what the hard work has gone toward."
 
NSU hopes to show its fans a similar result after an opening weekend in which the Lady Demons beat a disciplined Little Rock team 2-0 before losing to No. 22 Ole Miss, 3-0.
 
The Lady Demons trailed the Rebels just 1-0 through the game's first 60 minutes, similar to this past season's contest at SMU in which the Mustangs scored two of their three goals in the last 10 minutes.
 
Junior goalkeeper Alex Latham played a huge role this past weekend, setting consecutive career highs in saves with 12 at Little Rock and 13 at Ole Miss. Latham's 25 saves leads the nation.
 
The Southland Conference Goalkeeper of the Week said the opening weekend had plenty of positives, but Latham and her team want to do more to limit the opponents' shots (55 in the first two games).
 
"We didn't come away with what we ultimately wanted, but it's a good starting point," Latham said. "We're working on things we implement in practice, and we're seeing them on the field.
 
"We're working on our communication, such as which defender is picking up the ball when it comes down the middle. We're figuring out things like which defender will leave their attacker and who will step to the ball. We're working on reading each other better to prevent the little mistakes so maybe I won't have to touch the ball as much."
 
SMU lost to Ole Miss 2-0 in an exhibition, and the Mustangs will begin their regular season Thursday. The 2015 squad finished 5-10-3, which included a 3-0 win against NSU in Dallas.
 
NSU coach George Van Linder, who led SMU to four straight Western Athletic Conference regular season titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances from 1999-2002, views the Mustangs as a great measuring stick.
 
"Coming off the weekend we just had, we expect to be really competitive Thursday," Van Linder said. "The opponent right now is us, and we're focused on making ourselves better.

"We're working on cleaning things up for future games."