NATCHITOCHES—Starting fast is one of the keys for the Northwestern State soccer team as it begins conference play Sunday against in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana.

The match begins at 4 p.m. at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex. It will be streamed on ESPN+ with Patrick Netherton and former Lady Demon Kyle Nolen on the call.

The Lady Demons have scored five goals on the season, with all five coming in the second half. NSU head coach Ian Brophy knows the team needs to strike early and play from ahead.

"We've been focusing on trying to come out of gates fast," he said. "We've been talking about that with our team and thinking about ways to start faster. It's something that has been an issue so far. I think it is something we are figuring out in terms of our preparation and the way we do our warm-up. We're really evaluating everything."

What is working in NSU's (2-5) favor is that it has had a lot of success in conference openers.

The Lady Demons have won four consecutive conference openers, posting shutouts in each game. In last year's opener, an Olivia Draguicevich goal in the eighth minute held up as the Lady Demons prevailed 1-0 against UIW.

"Given the momentum from our non-conference season, getting a strong start to conference play is really important," Brophy said. "We have a good opportunity to do that given we have our first two games and three of our first four at home."

"If we can get off to a good start in conference play, it will set the tone for our season in general. If we can get off to a nice start, it will get us rolling as we go to the latter part of our season and that is something we're really excited about."

NSU brings an offense that has scored four goals in the last three games and has averaged nearly 12 shot attempts per game in those contests.

The offense has been providing several scoring opportunities at home. In the two games in front of its own fans against Rice and Alabama A&M, NSU has 33 shot attempts.

"We're progressively getting better on offense," Emme' Fernandez said. "It was a little rocky at first. We were also focusing on our defense early in the year as we were finding our identity as an attacking group. It is just progressively getting better the more we get to practice and the more we get to settle in as a team."

The Lady Demons have had four different players tally their five goals. Only Taylor Spitzer has scored multiple goals, scoring twice, including one at LSU last time out.

While the offense has been improving, the defense has been the calling card for the past several seasons. In net for NSU is reigning SLC Goalkeeper of the Week Libe Banuelos. The junior is coming off a two-game weekend in which she posted a shutout at Jackson State in a 2-0 win before stopping a career-high 10 saves in the narrow loss at LSU.

Her 33 saves are tops in the conference, five more than Olivia Griffin, who is her goalkeeper opponent Sunday.

SLU (2-5) is coming off a 1-0 victory at home against Jackson State in its first home game of the year.

Like NSU, the Lions have challenged themselves as well during non-conference play, having played Houston, Ole Miss and UL Monroe.

"It will be an intense game," Brophy said. "I know they'll be ready to play from a rivalry standpoint. They were preseason picked third in the conference, so they're a really good team and will come in and compete.

"They also shut out Jackson State and created a lot of chances, similar to what we did. If we can get conference started off right, we know we're in a good place against some of the better teams in the conference."

Mya Guillory is the most potent offensive weapon for SLU, registering five points, scoring two goals and an assist. She has by far and away the most shots (22) and shots on goal (10) on the team.

"Everyone has to stay connected at the midfield defensively against a talented offense like this," Emily Mougia said. "Everyone needs to be on the same page. We have to move together as a team and we'll be able to be tough defensively against them."

In the overall series, SLU has a slight 22-18-4 edge, but NSU has gone 7-0-2 in the last nine meetings, including a 3-0 win on Senior Day in 2022 on the strength of a Draguicevich hat trick.

NSU welcomes UIW to the Soccer Complex on Sept. 22 to wrap up the two-match homestand to begin conference play.