DALLAS -- For the Northwestern State soccer team, Sunday's match at SMU will have an air of familiarity about it, as the Lady Demons take to the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium for a 6 p.m. kickoff against the Mustangs.

No strangers to competing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 16 players on the NSU roster hail from counties either within or near Dallas. Half of that number graduated from schools within either Collin or Denton counties, all a 40-minute drive or less from where they will be competing Sunday.

"There's a lot of excitement for this team in getting to play again back home," first year head coach Stuart Gore said. "In a way, it's a home game for us."

The excitement has certainly mounted in recent days following a thrilling season opener Thursday at Oral Roberts. After ORU took a 3-1 lead in the early stages of the second period, two fast-break scores within two minutes by defenseman Natalee Henry and sophomore midfielder Kyle Nolen erased the deficit in a hurry.

Senior Jalen Donaldson tallied a go-ahead goal for NSU before Oral Roberts answered with the equalizing goal three minutes later, marking the end of a wild second half in what ended as a 4-all tie.

The Lady Demons' offense peppered ORU with 25 shot attempts, six more than NSU's single-match high in the 2021 spring season Thirteen of those shots were on-target, four more than the high-water mark from last season.

After successfully applying its offseason focus on offense in the season opener, the Lady Demons will try to extend that success against a tougher opponent.  

"It's going to be a tough game," Gore said. "SMU is well schooled, well drilled, and it's going to be a big test for us going in and seeing how we match up against a top-100 American Conference team like SMU.

"SMU is a great team. Chris (Petrucelli) has done a great job growing their program, and we're eager to meet the challenge Sunday."