NATCHITOCHES—While the Southland Conference Tournament has a new look, the venue and opponent is a familiar one.

Second-seeded Northwestern State (11-3-3, 8-2-2 SLC) hosts the conference tournament and begins its march in an attempt to defend its tournament crown on Wednesday against in-state rival seventh-seeded McNeese (5-8-4, 3-5-4).

Thanks to sponsorships from the Natchitoches Historic Downtown Development Commission and the Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, NSU will aim to repeat as the conference tournament champions in front of the home crowd.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex, the last of the three quarterfinal matches. All tournament games are being streamed on ESPN+.

NSU won five of its seven home matches this season. One of the home losses came to regular season SLC champion Lamar.

This is the fourth time the schools have met in the SLC Tournament, with the last two having gone to overtime. NSU has won two of the previous three, including in the last matchup in the semifinals in 2019. In that one, a then-freshman Olivia Draguicevich scored the game's lone goal in double overtime to send the Lady Demons to their first SLC Tournament title game since 2015.

"The biggest key is embracing the pressure," Draguicevich said. "There is a lot of pressure on us from last year. Coming into this tournament, a lot of people are expecting that of us. We need to be able to embrace the pressure and do what we've been doing."

Draguicevich, the reigning SLC Player of the Year, scored six goals as a freshman and has not stopped scoring since. With three goals on Senior Night against Southeastern Louisiana, she broke the school record for goals in a career with 36. Her 79 total points also trails the school record by just four.

She led the conference with 12 goals scored overall and her seven goals in league play only trailed Texas A&M-Commerce's Mya Mitchell's eight.

The teams met once in the regular season in Lake Charles with Taylor Spitzer scoring a late goal to earn a tie last month.

"(McNeese head coach) Drew (Fitzgerald) has them well-drilled," NSU head coach Stuart Gore said. "They get themselves up for big games. They're a seven seed but is better than a seven seed. They're coming in to win it all, not just win our game."

Since that game, NSU has won six matches in a row.

Gracie Armstrong, who has recorded five goals and six assists in her last seven games, led the league in assists.

Five different players have scored goals during the winning streak and 12 players on the season have found the back of the net. Seventeen players have registered at least one point.

"We've had players step up in big moments," Draguicevich said. "I think they're stepping up at the perfect time. Going into the conference tournament, we'll have a lot of assets that will help us get points on the board."

While the offense has turned its offense up to 11 in the last month, the defense has even better. The unit has surrendered more than five shots just once in conference play, including just three in the tie against the Cowgirls in the first meeting.

"Our defense needs to just keep doing what it has been doing," senior goalkeeper Chloe DeShazer said. "Our back line is extremely fast as it is. They are really good at keeping people in front of them and blocking shots. We've been working on getting out bodies in front of the ball so I don't have to face a shot.

"The back line did well against it the last time we played McNeese. Overall, we just need to keep doing what we've been doing."

DeShazer has been a terrific final line of defense at goalkeeper. Her season ranks up near the top seasons in program history. She has a 0.58 goals against average in league play and has allowed just two goals during the winning streak.

McNeese has two of the top players in points in the league.

Magalie Dépôt and Rachel Young each have scored 12 points on the season, tied for 10^th in the league. Three players have scored at least four goals, as those two are joined by Salma Elhaimer. Matilde Tesgaard, who tallied McNeese's goal against NSU in the regular season, found the back of the net three times.

The winner advances to the SLC Tournament semifinals Friday evening against the winner of third-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce and sixth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.