NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State soccer team opens home competition on Wednesday against a familiar opponent.

In the first of a four-match home homestand, NSU (0-2-1) welcomes Louisiana Tech (2-2) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to the Lady Demon Soccer Complex. Admission to the match is free for all spectators to the event. The match will be live streamed, which is accessible via nsudemons.com or on the NSU Athletics mobile app.

A Lady Demon roster laden with seniors and veteran members is no stranger to bouncing back after a slow start to non-conference play. After falling to 0-5 start their 2019 campaign, the Lady Demons – 15 of which are still currently on the roster – took off to win their next five in a row and finished the season with a 13-8-1 overall record.

"We started off 0-5 in 2019 and look where we ended up," senior midfielder Kaymi Wheeler said. "It obviously didn't quite end the way we wanted it to, but we always have our eyes on the No. 1 spot and had it in us to win it all. We have it in us to win it now."

These Lady Demons are eager to bring the fight home and bag their first home win of the Stuart Gore era in front of a familiar crowd.

"We're certainly ready to start playing on our own pitch again," head coach Stuart Gore said. Going back and forth to Dallas and Houston consecutive weekends, it's a lot of travel miles and I think we're just happy to get home and play some good teams here."

Wheeler echoed Gore's sentiments:

"It;s nice to (return) home and finally get back to playing on our field, "Wheeler said. "I feel like we've been constantly on the road these past few weeks, and it's been crazy. It feels good to be back playing in Natchitoches, and under our own lights once again." 

Having competed against two Group of Five powerhouses early in the season in SMU and Rice, the NSU defense has shown flashes of the talent it exerted on its opponents in the previous spring.

At SMU, Lady Demon defenders were able to tighten up and hold the Mustangs to two goals on seven shot attempts at the net.

On Sunday, a seven-save day for Southland goalkeeper of the year Acelya Aydogmus, and an all-around solid effort by the Lady Demon back line held the score at one apiece forcing extra time. Rice eventually secured the victory with a 95^th minute golden goal.

NSU aims to extend these stretches of defensive success to its match against the Lady Techsters and beyond. These improvements come following a wild shootout affair at Oral Roberts which ended in a 4-4 draw and 25 total shots taken by NSU attackers.

Sophomore Kyle Nolen currently leads the team with two goals tallied (Oral Roberts, Rice), and a third at SMU which was called a no-goal due to illegal contact inside the goal box.

Wednesday's contest is the second installment of a three-match Group of Five stretch for NSU, and the second straight Conference USA match for the Lady Demons, the last of which was a 2-1 overtime loss at No. 23 Rice.

NSU opened its 2021 season at Louisiana Tech earning a 2-1 win in Ruston. The Lady Demons currently hold a 5-1-1 all-time record against the Lady Techsters, their lone loss occurring in the 2019 season. The Lady Techsters enter Wednesday's match with wins over East Texas Baptist and Louisiana College, while dropping outings against Murray State and Southland rival McNeese State.

Following Wednesday's contest, the Lady Demons are set to host Louisiana-Monroe at home Sunday at 6 p.m.