NACOGDOCHES -- For a Northwestern State soccer program aiming to build itself into a Southland Conference championship contender, the Lady Demons can point to a 2015 trip to Nacogdoches as one of the early signs they were headed down the right path.
 
NSU tied Stephen F. Austin in 2015 the last time the Lady Demons trekked to Nacogdoches, starting momentum that resulted in a 2016 bid to the SLC Tournament as a No. 3 seed.
 
NSU (4-3) returns to SFA Soccer Field on Friday as a team loaded with veteran talent hopes to take its first step toward a conference title by taking on one of the league's periennial powers.
 
Match start is 7 p.m. against the Ladyjacks (3-3).
 
"We've started conference play every year with SFA, and it's always a good gauge for where we're at," said senior goalkeeper Alex Latham. "We've been so competitive with them for the last two years, and we've been so close.
 
"It would be huge for this senior class to get a win and huge for the whole team to set the tone for the rest of SLC play."
 
Latham is the reigning SLC Goalkeeper of the Year and has four shutouts in her first seven matches.
 
The Bradenton, Florida, native moved into second all-time on NSU's saves list with a combined 12 saves in a pair of shutouts against Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State this past weekend. She now has 320 career saves, which ranks third among active Division I NCAA career leaders.
 
The NSU defense has dominated in other shutouts against ULM and LSU Shreveport, but the Lady Demons are seeking improvement against the upper echelon teams on its schedule.
 
"We're doing well on defense and are starting to gel together," said NSU coach George Van Linder. "We're still fine-tuning, but we're lucky to have (Latham) back there along with our other two quality keepers.
 
"We certainly feel like we're a team that deserves to be mentioned in the conference race with the veterans we have. This will be the fourth time our (nine) seniors have played them, so we have a lot of confidence going in knowing that it will be a battle."
 
Aside from its defensive prowess in 2016 (1.28 goals against average), an offense featuring a variety of attackers supplied options for a team that averaged 1.42 goals per match.
 
That attack has diversified even further with 12 different players who've scored and six Lady Demons who've produced multiple goals.
 
Freshman Yeaya Gamboa leads the team with four goals, but senior Cache' Haley was the most consistent attacker this past weekend with two goals and an assist.
 
Haley, whose four goals in SLC play led the team this past season, already has three goals and two assists.
 
"Wanting to be conference champions this year has been such a motivation, and we've come such a long way from a team in 2014 when we were a bunch of freshmen," Haley said. "We've developed into a team that can win a conference title … and we believe Friday is the day we finally have what it takes to pull out a win because of the way we work together and our cohesion.
 
"It's always a good, tough battle between us and SFA, and it's going to be a tough fight."
 
Haley performed well Sunday (1 goal) despite hearing the news of losing family friend Justin Castleberry.
 
"I got a call Sunday at 4 a.m. that Justin had passed -- that day started off kind of crazy," said Haley, who dedicated her performance to Castleberry. "But I knew that from that moment, I had focus in and work for his family and my family.

"We're pretty much one big family, and the (Castleberrys) will always be our family. I love every single one of them."