BEAUMONT, Texas—To be the best, you need to beat the best.

And since Lamar re-joined the Southland Conference, no team has been better.

The Northwestern State (4-7 overall, 2-2 SLC) soccer team, which is coming off back-to-back heartbreaking late losses, takes aim at league-leading Lamar (9-2-1, 4-0) on the road on Friday.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the LU Soccer Complex.

Among the players making the trip for NSU to Beaumont is midfielder Sabrina Lopez.

Lopez transferred to Natchitoches after playing with Lamar the previous two seasons, where she helped lead the Cardinals to both the 2022 SLC regular season and conference tournament titles.

During her two seasons in red, she appeared in 26 games, starting four. She found the back of the net twice in 2022, once each in victories against UL Lafayette and Nicholls. The goal against UL Lafayette was a game-winner.

"It will be really bittersweet to play my old school," Lopez said. "I still have a lot of friends on the team and with my old coaches, but I am treating it as any other game. It is no different than the games we have already played, and I am looking forward to it."

After two successful seasons in Beaumont, the native of Katy, Texas, made the tough decision to leave her home state.

When looking for a school to play for, Lopez knew NSU was the right choice for her.

"Natchitoches was not too far from home and I love the environment," she said. "Knowing the Southland Conference, I knew Northwestern State was a good team to go to and I really think we can go far this year."

Lopez has made a significant impact during her first two months with the Lady Demons. Playing in all 11 games so far, she is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals (2), second in goals (2), points (5) and shots on goal (5) and third in total shots (11).

While this is just one of 12 conference games, this one is a little more meaningful for the former Cardinal.

"It is definitely more meaningful, but I don't want to put pressure on myself and think I have to do this or that," she said. "I am just going to play my game and hopefully we're able to come out with a win."

The junior scored the lone goal in the conference-opening 1-0 victory against Southeastern Louisiana.

This year's version of Lamar is a juggernaut as well, entering the contest on an eight-match winning streak, having outscored opponents 19-2 during the streak.

Among those victories was a 1-0 triumph against No. 17 Xavier.

"Lamar has a lot of really good players and they're a veteran team and have had a lot of time to gel," first-year head coach Ian Brophy said. "I think their seniors really lead the way for them and they have some really impactful players who from an offensive standpoint can score a lot of goals and take the pressure off them defensively.

"They also have really good defenders and a really good goalkeeper. We know we have a really difficult game against one of the conference favorites and it is no surprise how they've started."

Last time out, the Cardinals defeated SLU 1-0 on a goal early in the second half from Isela Ramirez.

In the overall series, Lamar leads 10-5-2 and 6-3 in Beaumont. However, in the last meeting, NSU won 2-0 at Lamar in 2022 on the strength of a pair of goals from eventual SLC Player of the Year Gracie Armstrong.

On Armstrong's second goal, current Lady Demon Emily Mougia dished out the assist for her first career point.

The matchup features four of the highest-scoring players in the conference in NSU's Taylor Spitzer and Lamar's Ramirez, Cariel Ellis and Hollie Massey.

Spitzer leads the Lady Demons with four goals, ranking tied for fifth in the category. Massey, the reigning conference offensive player of the week, leads the conference with 16 points, recording five goals and six assists.

Ellis has five goals and Ramirez has tallied four.

Defensively, NSU returns Caroline Hilliard, who missed the loss to McNeese last game after receiving a red card at Texas A&M-Commerce.

"Caroline is great both on and off the field," Brophy said. "It was great to have her on the bench and supporting the girls last game, but we missed her voice on the field and it will be great to have her back out there.

"It will be great to have her energy back out there with her willingness to put in tackles and competitive energy. Her overall leadership and impact on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end with her ability to create chances from a defensive position, have been really important as well."

Prior to the last two contests, the Lady Demons allowed just two goals in a span of five games, only surrendering a pair of goals to LSU.

Defensively, NSU has had good communication along the back line.

"Communication is the most important part of being a successful defense," Kylie Morris said. "I think it is very important when you're passing on players, who is going to step and who is going to make that tackle. Communicating who has your back and who is covering you is huge as part of the defense."

Following the trip to Beaumont, NSU heads to Houston for a match with Houston Christian for the second game of three on this road trip. The team next returns home for two when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Oct. 15.