COMMERCE, Texas—For the first time as a member of the Southland Conference, newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce awaits the Northwestern State women's soccer team.

NSU (4-2-2 overall, 1-1-1 SLC) heads to Commerce for the first time as conference foes, matching up at the Lion Soccer Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Lady Demons are coming off a weekend in which they recorded one point in a tie at Southeastern Louisiana after falling to Lamar, two of the top three teams at the top of the SLC standings.

TAMUC (2-5-1, 2-1) dropped its first four games of the regular season, not finding the back of the net in any of those games. However, the Lions have turned it around, winning two and tying one in their next three games, including the first two in league play.

Despite a loss last time out, the Lions gave a scare to the league-leading Lamar Cardinals, leading through the first 79 minutes before Lamar tallied three goals in the next six minutes to earn a 3-1 come-from-behind victory.

"They work hard and have had a great start," NSU head women's soccer coach Stuart Gore said. "They've had a great start to conference after not having a great start to the season, which could have easily affected them.

"(Texas A&M-Commerce head coach) Ashley (Gordon) is a very seasoned coach, having coached in the top level of the power five. She knows what she is doing."

The first and only meeting between the two schools was Oct. 15, 1996, NSU's first season, a 2-0 TAMUC victory.

Sisters Sara and Emme' Fernandez, natives of Val Alstyne, Texas, are coming back near their hometown, which is 50 miles away from Commerce.

"It's really exciting to come back and play close to home," Sara Fernandez said. "I think it makes you kind of want to win even more."

When Emme' a graduate student, was looking for a school to transfer to to play closer to home, she only contacted one school.

"My decision to come here was impacted by Sara playing here, 100 percent," Emme' Fernandez said. "I told Stuart (Gore) when I first called him that NSU was the only school I was looking at. A big part of that was wanting to play with my sister."

This past weekend, NSU was unable to dent the scoreboard despite out-shooting its opponents 22-8. Gore believes that gives them confidence after controlling much of both games.

Sunday's game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Olivia Draguicevich has scored a season-high six goals for NSU, including a hat trick against Jackson State. She is five shy of the school record for the most goals in school history. Her 65 total points are third in program history.

Natalee Henry Is right behind Draguicevich in points with eight, scoring three goals and dishing out two assists.

The defense was lights out once again, limiting chances against Lamar and SLU, including helping pitch the shutout against the Lady Lions in the scoreless draw.

NSU has created chances, leading the league in shot attempts overall (127) and second in shots per game in league play (14).

TAMUC's Mya Mitchell has made a major impact in her freshman season for the Lions, scoring a league-leading four goals in SLC play. After failing to register a point in her first five contests, the freshman has scored all four goals and all nine points in conference play. In a 4-1 win over Houston Christian, she scored two goals and added an assist.

The Lions are one of the youngest teams in the conference and none of the players who have recorded a point for TAMUC this season is a senior and four of them (22 of their 26 total points) have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.

Main goalkeeper Gillian McKenzie is also a freshman. She is second in the league with 12 saves in conference play. In her three conference games, she has a 1.67 goals against average and a .706 save percentage.

Following the game, NSU returns to Natchitoches for one match, hosting the newly named Houston Christian (formerly Baptist) on Sept. 30 before hitting the road once again for two contests in a row.