NATCHITOCHES—The Southland Conference Tournament title isn't at stake this time, but the conference opener is certainly up there in terms of importance.

In the first time meeting since the 2021 SLC Tournament title match, NSU (3-1-1) is aiming for a repeat following a season in which it won both the regular season and tournament titles.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

In the tournament title match, NSU (3-1-1) received a goal in the 62^nd minute from Faith Adams, which stood and the Lady Demons took home its first conference tournament crown and berth in the NCAA Tournament since 2005.

"Obviously, everybody will talk about the conference final," NSU head women's soccer coach Stuart Gore said. "They have a new coach and some new players, so the team names are the same, but the teams are different in that way. They're coming in here with the same objective as us, which is to start off conference play 1-0."

UIW (1-3) is coached by first-year coach Marc Verriere Costa, replacing Emma Wright-Cates, who went to be an assistant coach at SMU.

The Lady Demons have won eight of the 11 matchups all-time, going 8-2-1, including 8-1-1 in the past 10. UIW's last victory in the series came in Natchitoches in 2020, a 1-0 win.

Olivia Draguicevich keeps climbing up the NSU record books after her hat trick last time out in a 6-0 victory against Jackson State.

Her three tallies pushed her total for the season to five and for her career to 29, which is tied for the second-most in program history, just six behind Britiany Cargill for the most.

Draguicevich's 63 points are fourth in school history, one behind April Trowbridge for third.

Natalee Henry, Hallie Field and Taylor Spitzer also found the back of the net, with Spitzer's being her first career goal. Henry continued her strong play with her third goal of the season and tallies in back-to-back games. Her three are just two shy of her career-best total of five set last season.

The offense has been lights out for NSU, leading the conference with 85 shot attempts and tied for first with 16 goals. The attack has attempted at least 18 shots in four of the five games, going 4-0-1 when it has.

Goalkeeper Chloe DeShazer is fresh off her first shutout at NSU, stopping all four shots in the triumph. Through non-conference play, she allowed four goals in 450 minutes for a .80 goals against average, which is second in the conference. Her .833 save percentage is also second in the league.

UIW had a challenging non-conference slate, led by reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week Sierra Wannamaker. The preseason first team all-conference selection tallied a hat trick in a 4-1 victory against Texas Southern on Sept. 4.

Wannamaker's three goals are half the tallies by the Cardinals this season. Two have been scored by Keeley Ayala and another by Meredith Caviglia.

"Slowing the UIW attack down is something we worked on this week," DeShazer said. "We were really working on how to step and block shots. We do a pretty good job at defending overall. Our biggest thing now is to surrender any more silly, cheap goals."

The Cardinals have used two goalkeepers this season. Margaret Kofron has started three games, but in the win, UIW started Makenzie Hall, who stopped one shot in the 4-1 triumph.

NSU finishes a three-match home stand with a visit from perennial SLC power Lamar on Friday before playing two straight on the road against Southeastern Louisiana and conference newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce.