NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State soccer team appeared to turn a competitive corner Friday as they slugged it out with defending Southland Conference Tournament champion Houston Baptist in a 2-1 overtime loss.

But the Lady Demons (5-9, 1-6 SLC) need more than tangible improvement with just four league games remaining.

NSU sits in a tie for 11^th place as they welcome Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-6-2, 2-4-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Lady Demons will play their third straight home match and will aim to snap a three-game losing streak.

The Lady Demons, who have three points in the standings, must jump three of the following five teams to make a second straight SLC Tournament trip: Incarnate Word (three points), Southeastern (five points), Nicholls (seven points), Sam Houston State (seven points) and the Islanders (seven points).

NSU has the tie-breaker over Incarnate Word but lost to Sam Houston State.

TAMU-CC upset the Lady Demons in Corpus Christi, Texas, this past season in a 1-0 win, snapping NSU's five-match winning streak which propelled NSU to the No. 3 seed.

The Islanders are riding high after knocking off Central Arkansas 3-1 on the road, ending a five-match winless streak (four losses, one tie).

"Corpus Christi, you have to hand it to them with a new coaching staff," said NSU coach George Van Linder. "They've really risen up and played at a higher level than year's past.

"It will be a battle between two teams fighting for a conference tournament spot."

Three of NSU's last four games are against teams on the bubble of the SLC Tournament. After hosting the Islanders on Sunday, NSU heads to Southeastern on Friday and Nicholls the next Sunday.

The Lady Demons end the regular season at home against Central Arkansas on Oct. 27.

Against Houston Baptist, the NSU offense outshot the Huskies 19-18, including 7-4 on goal. Both of HBU's goals came off rebounds or deflections, both from close range.

NSU's offense displayed more patience in the attack, allowing for more high quality chances.

The Lady Demons get leading scorer Brittany Caserma (seven goals) back after the junior received two yellow cards against Sam Houston State and was ejected.

NSU is 3-1 all-time against the Islanders.