NATCHITOCHES—Following a successful road trip where it earned four points, the Northwestern State women's soccer team returns home for a date with Houston Christian in a Southland Conference contest on Friday at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex.

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

NSU (5-2-2 overall, 2-1-1 SLC) is coming off a convincing 4-1 victory at league newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce in a solo game this past weekend, one that saw NSU needing to finish the game on Monday due to a long lightning delay on Sunday.
It's the lone home game in a 22-day stretch for the Lady Demons, which is sandwiched by two road games.

"We all love the feel of being back at home, especially on a Friday night," Micah Goss said. "Everybody tends to come out after a long week and have fun and support us. The energy is always really high on a Friday, so I am excited to back in that atmosphere because it is always great being on our home field."

Northwestern State holds a slim 6-5-1 edge in the all-time series and has won the past four contests, outscoring the Huskies 7-1 in the process.

Olivia Draguicevich keeps rolling along, scoring what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the victory against TAMUC.

The tally was her seventh of the season, which leads the team. She also creeps toward the school record for goals in a career, with her 31^st in her illustrious career four behind Britiany Cargill.

"I'd be upset if we actually weren't creating chances," NSU women's soccer head coach Stuart Gore said. "We are creating chances and when we score, it tends to settle the team down. They find another gear and it's good to see them creating chances and getting multiple people on the score sheet."

Fifteen players have already found the score sheet in 2022, compared to 11 in the conference championship season last year. Four players have recorded at least six points, as Draguicevich is joined by Natalee Henry (8), Taylor Spitzer (6) and Jalen Donaldson (6).

Chloe DeShazer has played every minute of every game so far for NSU, surrendering just seven goals in the nine contests, recording 24 saves.

HCU (1-6-3, 1-2-1), formerly Houston Baptist, had a rough start, going 0-6-2 in its first eight contests, but this past weekend, the Huskies began turning things around, scoring four goals in the first half to dominate Southeastern Louisiana 4-1 before playing UIW to a scoreless draw.

The magic number for NSU could be two goals scored, as HCU has scored more than one goal once on the season, which was the win over SLU this past Friday. On the other side, NSU has not lost this season when it has scored at least one goal (5-0-2).

"We take a lot of pride in shutting teams down," Nicole Henry said. "You have to defend before you can attack. So it is important to keep them off the board because you can transition from defense to offense."

Nicole Henry, a graduate student from Tomball, Texas, is tied for second with Tara Powasnik with 85 matches played, one behind Natalie Waguespack for the program record. She will tie the record on Friday evening and likely break the mark on Sunday.

Katie Marker is the leading scorer for the Huskies, recording team-highs for HCU with three goals and six points. Redshirt freshman Emily Jaimes has scored two goals for the Huskies but has only played in five contests. Both goals came in the win against SLU.

HCU's goalkeeper is also named Chloe in reigning SLC Goalkeeper of the Week Chloe Bagshaw, who made five saves in a 1-0-1 weekend, surrendering just one goal.

NSU wraps up the weekend with a trip to in-state rival McNeese on Sunday, which marks the first of two consecutive road games before returning to Natchitoches for two straight at home, starting Oct. 9 against Nicholls.