COMMERCE, Texas—While many of the faces might be new, the ones who do return from a season ago are aiming for a bit of revenge when the Northwestern State soccer team heads to Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday for the first road contest during Southland Conference play.

The match kicks off at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

A season ago, NSU (4-5 overall, 2-0 SLC) fell in the conference tournament semifinals 3-2 in double overtime to TAMUC (3-5-1, 1-0) to conclude its season, finishing two steps shy of a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"The loss last year serves as motivation for us," Madison Murphy said. "They sent us home last year and we never want that to happen. So this is a game we need to prove ourselves and show who we really are."

This year's version of the Lady Demons have won four of the last five games after dropping their first four. In each win, NSU has posted a shutout, three of which have come by a 1-0 score, including both of their first two games in conference play.

NSU is coming off a victory against UIW on Friday in which Taylor Spitzer scored the team's first goal in the first half all season, which held up in the team's 1-0 win.

The goal was Spitzer's team-leading third of the season, one shy of her freshman total.

In the win over UIW, the Lady Demons improved to 4-0 when tallying the first goal, and first-year head coach Ian Brophy knows how important it is.

"Defensively, it shows how strong we are and our ability to keep clean sheets," Brophy said. "It really helps knowing once we get ahead, we're going to be really tough for teams to try to come and get a goal. At the same time, it shows that's one of the keys we put before each game. If we score first, we've got a really good shot to win the game."

In last year's conference tournament loss to TAMUC, Spitzer had to watch, as she missed the final month of the season due to injury.

The sophomore, who scored her second career goal at TAMUC last season in a 4-1 NSU victory, is eager to show out against the team that bounced the Lady Demons last season.

"Missing the conference tournament lit a fire under me," Spitzer said. "We have something to prove this season. We have to come back after that loss last year and prove we should have been in those finals last year."

NSU has received contributions from all over, as eight players have posted points this season, recording anywhere from one to six points. Two of the players—Spitzer and Sabrina Lopez—have multiple goals.

Goalkeeper Libe Banuelos has been a part of four shutouts in the past five games, three of which were solo. She is coming off a three-save performance in the win over UIW. Banuelos made huge saves and challenges to earn the shutout victory. Banuelos is one shutout shy of the top 10 in program history for career shutouts.

This year's version of the Lions aren't bad either. TAMUC played a difficult non-conference schedule and has won two in a row, including its conference opener at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-2 on a late goal from Melissa Storey.

"They are a very good team, as evidenced by being picked to finish second in the conference," Brophy said. "They were able to pull out a later winner in their opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. We know they are going to be a formidable team.
"They also played a tough non-conference schedule, so we know we'll be in for a fight against one of the better teams in the conference."

Hannah Bell, a freshman, leads the Lions in goals (4) and points (8). Kaydence Ramirez is second in the conference in assists with three. Eleven players for TAMUC have recorded points this season.

Following the match, NSU is back at home Friday evening when it hosts in-state rival McNeese before hitting the road for three consecutive contests.