GRAMBLING—A strong defense leads the Northwestern State women's soccer team into battle on the road against Grambling on Sunday at the Grambling Soccer Complex.

The contest is at 1 p.m.

The match is the final of four consecutive road games to begin the season.

NSU (1-1-1) took No. 15 SMU to the brink last time out, dropping a 1-0 decision in Dallas for the first defeat of the season.

Goalkeeper Chloe DeShazer has started all three games and has surrendered just one goal in each game and has recorded 10 saves in the three games, registering a .769 save percentage.

In the three games, the defense for the Lady Demons has surrendered just 13 shots on goal against teams that are a combined 6-4-3, with two of those losses coming against SEC competition.

"The key to our strong start defensively has been working as a team," sophomore defender Halee Griffin said. "It starts with the forwards and moves on to the midfielders. It helps when our offensive players work hard on defensively to make it easier for us."

Freshman Paige Armstrong leads a balanced scoring attack for NSU, tallying three points, all of which came against Louisiana Tech in the opener. Olivia Draguicevich has re-written the record book at Northwestern State and has scored one goal on the season, which also came against the Lady Techsters.

All five goals have been scored by different players and six players have at least two points, as Taylor Spitzer leads the team with a pair of assists.

Gracie Armstrong, a senior midfielder, has been close to putting one in the back of the net and she knows she needs to keep being aggressive and goals will come.

"I just have to keep shooting more and take those chances when I get them," she said.

Grambling (2-3) has dropped its past three contests after winning its first two against LSU-Shreveport and Alcorn State. The Lady Tigers are coming off a 3-1 loss at LSU on Friday in which it scored the first goal of the game in the eighth minute.

"To win this game, it comes to buckling down and understanding nothing will be given to us," NSU women's soccer coach Stuart Gore said. "They won't be in awe of us. Hopefully our team can get another win under our belt before going to play at home for the first time this regular season."

Samantha Diaz leads the team in points with five after scoring the goal at LSU to begin the contest. Beatriz Kretteis has tallied three points for the Lady Tigers, scoring a goal and dishing out an assist.

Justin Wagar returns to head coach of the Lady Tigers after a year away. In his first three seasons at the helm, he was 35-26-3, leading the team to back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament championship game appearances in 2017 and 2018 and then again in the spring of 2021.

In his last season at Grambling, he guided the team to an 8-2-2 record in the spring of 2021.

"Justin (Wagar) was really successful, making them one of the top teams in the SWAC," Gore said. "Now he's come back to get them back to their winning ways. They're a tough team that works extremely hard and it is a tough place to play."

Northwestern State holds a 5-2 advantage all-time against Grambling, but the Lady Tigers have won two of the last three, including a 1-0 home win for Grambling in 2019 in the last matchup.

Following the contest, NSU returns home for the first time in the regular season for a date with Jackson State on Friday. It begins a stretch of three consecutive contests at home, which includes the first two matches of Southland Conference play.