HAMMOND – With a shot at first place in the Southland Conference race, the Northwestern State soccer team makes its visit to Strawberry Stadium on Sunday for a rematch with third place Southeastern Louisiana.

NSU (5-4-3, 5-1-1 SLC) took a 1-0 victory to open league play against reigning tournament champion SLU (5-5-2, 3-2-2 SLC) on Sept. 10. That night, junior forward Olivia Draguicevich scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 27^th minute, resulting in a furious attempt by the Lady Lions to equalize. In the second half. NSU hung onto its lead despite a 13-shots effort by SLU to even the score.  

Since that evening, both teams have lost a single match and are now jockeying for position in the Southland standings; NSU currently holds a two-match lead over Southeastern, both sitting at second and third respectively in the conference standings by virtue of a tiebreaker owned by McNeese.

"SLU has put a run of wins together, and we know they're probably brimming with confidence heading into tomorrow," head coach Stuart Gore said. "Despite that, were just treating this trip like any other – They are an obstacle that needs to be overcome and that's it."

Southland Conference leading scorer Olivia Draguicevich scored her eighth and ninth goals against league opponents this season, claiming the all-time program record for goals against conference opponents in a single season on Friday at Nicholls-- her second program record claimed in three weeks. On Sept. 19 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Draguicevich toppled the Islanders with four total goals, setting the new record for most goals against a conference opponent in a single season.

Following her two-goal performance against Nicholls, Draguicevich tied the second-place mark for career game winning goals and is now seeking to close the gap on the record total set at 12 (Erin Hebert, 2004-2007).