PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Northwestern State soccer team will enter its second weekend of competition seeking a sense of balance to its game.  

NSU (0-1-1) dips back into the Lone Star state Friday to take on Prairie View A&M (0-1-1). Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Prairie View A&M soccer field.  

Opening weekend for the Lady Demons was a tale of two opposites, as NSU took on Oral Roberts, then traveled south to Dallas for a match against SMU.  

NSU took a blistering 25 shot attempts at ORU and ended on a 4-4 draw with the Golden Eagles in which all four Lady Demon goals were scored by separate players. The offense was led by senior forward Jalen Donaldson, who posted one goal, an assist and five total shots on the evening.

NSU then followed up with a three-shot performance at SMU in which they held a powerful Mustang offense to two goals. Donaldson, tallying one of the shots against SMU, ended the weekend as NSU's leading offensive player.

"The two matches last weekend really were polar extremes from one game to another," said NSU coach Stuart Gore. "Finding that balance is a work in progress, but we know we can defend well, and now we have proven that we can turn it on in the attack and score goals."  

A promising sign of things to come for NSU -- the defensive capabilities exhibited by the Lady Demons in their 2020 campaign began to resurface against SMU.  

"Comparing the Oral Roberts and SMU games, I think we were better with our individual battles, and did a solid job of holding our ground in 1-v-1 situations," said senior defender Nicole Henry.  

"We had to sit back a little bit and be more patient with SMU, and I think it helped." 

The Lady Demons are looking for the positive aspects of their first two road matches to meld Friday against Prairie View, who in recent history has been a consistent conference contender. 

"Prairie View has been one of the top teams in the SWAC," Gore said. "They're full of confidence and a very athletic team. We're looking forward to the challenges they will pose for us Friday night."  

NSU holds a 4-0 all-time record against the Lady Panthers and aims to extend its dominance in the series Friday. The last time the two teams competed was a 4-0 rout in 2014. 

The Lady Demons will continue their Houston-area swing when they head to Rice on Sunday for a noon match.