CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—Following a thrilling victory in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, the Northwestern State soccer team aims to make its third Southland Conference Tournament title game in five years when it plays regular season champion Lamar on Friday at the Dr. Jack Dugan Soccer and Track & Field Stadium.

The match will be streamed on ESPN+.

The winner of the contest will play either No. 7 Houston Christian or No. 3 McNeese in the tournament title game Sunday afternoon.

Fourth-seeded NSU (6-10-2) is fresh off a thrilling penalty kicks victory in the quarterfinals, one in which NSU came from behind to force overtime before winning it in PKs. Graduate student Emme' Fernandez had both the tying goal in regulation in the 69^th minute and the clinching PK goal on NSU's fourth attempt.

It is the second consecutive game the Lady Demons have battled back to post a tie after being behind for much of the contest.

The goal was Fernandez's third of the season, tying her with Emily Senatore for the second most on the team, only trailing Taylor Spitzer's four.

Goalkeeper Libe Banuelos, who made six saves during regulation and the overtimes, stopped two critical shots in the penalty kicks to help set up Fernandez's winner.

In the first game between the schools, Banuelos recorded a career-high 14 saves.

"I don't care about how many saves I had in the first game or even that they're conference champions," Banuelos said. "I just want to beat them. We were so close in the first game and I know we can do it. We're going to go with everything that we have and I am excited to show everyone what we have."

Now the Lady Demons set their sights on the regular season champ and defending tournament champion Lamar.

The Cardinals (14-2-2) won the only meeting between the two schools this season 1-0 in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has not lost against an SLC opponent since falling 2-0 at home to NSU on Oct. 7, 2022, a span of 17 consecutive games.

"It was a tight game there," first-year head coach Ian Brophy said. "We had two really good chances at the end to potentially tie the game. I think it will be another really tight game and it will come down to which team takes advantage of their chances.

"They took advantage of their one chance they had in the first game and had a great finish. It's going to be about if we can dominate the phase of play and capitalize on our own chances."

Rafiatu Alhassan scored the lone goal in the game on an impressive shot in the first half. Lamar outshot NSU 20-8, but the Lady Demons have found a groove offensively the past five games.

In those games, NSU has attempted double digit shots in every one of them, including at least 20 shots in three of the past four and each of the last two.

Spitzer, a Second Team All-SLC selection, has recorded at least five shot attempts in each of the past four games. The chances have been there for her but opposing goalkeepers have made impressive stops to keep Spitzer out of the net.

The sophomore from Allen, Texas, leads NSU in goals (4), points (9), shots (55) and shots on goal (21).

The Cardinals earned a whopping 10 players on the All-SLC teams, including seven on the first team. Lamar also racked up five of the eight superlative awards: Player of the Year (Hollie Massey), Defender of the Year (Arely Alaniz), Midfielder of the Year (Alana Clark), Goalkeeper of the Year (Nicole Panis) and Coach of the Year (Nathan Kogut).

Sabrina Lopez, a junior from Katy, Texas, makes her second appearance against her former team. In the first game, she played 60 minutes, helping hold the Cardinals to a single goal.

Lamar holds an 11-5-2 advantage in the all-time series and won the lone previous meeting in the SLC Tournament, a 3-1 Cardinals victory in the 2019 SLC Tournament title game.

"Lamar is a big dog, but we are ready for the fight," Fernandez said. "At the end of the day, it is coming onto the pitch and doing what we do and trying to hold them to the best of our abilities and capitalizing on the moments we get."