NATCHITOCHES—A rivalry is renewed as the Northwestern State soccer team aims to protect home field once again as in-state rival McNeese comes to town Friday for a Southland Conference contest at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex.

The match kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. It will be announced by Patrick Netherton and former Lady Demon Kyle Nolen.

The game features two of the best scorers in the conference, NSU's Taylor Spitzer and McNeese's Morgan Fiedler.

Spitzer, the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, is coming off goals in consecutive games against UIW and Texas A&M-Commerce. Overall, Spitzer has four goals on the season, third in the conference. All four of her tallies have come in the past six games.

"Taylor is a really good player who we knew was going to be a major contributor offensively for us," first-year head coach Ian Brophy said. "But, at the same time, she is doing a lot of other things well and her improvement has probably been the best thing we've seen.

"The most fun thing about getting to coach her is that she really takes the coaching points and really works to improve upon that. We know that when we get her in good spots, she's got the ability to finish those chances."

In last year's regular season meeting in Lake Charles, Spitzer came through late with a goal in the 82^nd minute to salvage a tie, which began an eight-match unbeaten string for the Lady Demons.

Spitzer is tied for the lead in goals during league with the two. She is tied with three players, including McNeese's Magalie Dépôt. Both of her goals came in the victory against Nicholls.

The NSU sophomore is one of three reigning conference players of the week who will be on the field Friday evening in Natchitoches. Along with Spitzer, McNeese's Martine Ellefsen and Jackie Kelly garnered defensive player and goalkeeper of the week, respectively.

Ellefson scored a late goal to tie at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the conference opener before leading a defense that held Nicholls off the board. Kelly allowed just one goal in 135 minutes to earn a pair of victories.

Fiedler is tied for the conference lead with five goals overall and leads the SLC in points with 11. She had two goals in the 2-1 win at Jackson State on Sept. 16. Her three game-winning goals are second in the conference, only trailing Lamar's Cariel Ellis.

Tasked with the responsibility of slowing her down is an NSU defense that has surrendered just four goals in its last six contests. The Lady Demons are coming off a 2-1 loss to Texas A&M-Commerce, a game in which the Lions scored the deciding goal late.

NSU attempted 14 shots in the loss to TAMUC, the third most shots in a single game all season. Spitzer attempted five and freshman Emily Senatore finished right behind her with four.

Senatore has 14 shot attempts on the season, the second most on the team. Despite not finding the back of net yet, she knows it is just a matter of time.

"I think I need to focus on my form and shooting and getting them on target," Senatore said. "I'll find the back of the net soon since my teammates have been helping me create a number of opportunities."

NSU goalkeeper Libe Banuelos has recorded three solo shutouts and was a part of another combined shutout in the triumph at JSU. The junior leads the conference with 41 saves and earned the conference goalkeeper of the week award Sept. 12 following the combined shutout and a 10-save performance at LSU.

"Having Libe in the net gives us a lot of confidence," defender Alina Graf said. "No matter how good you are, you will not make every single tackle. There will always be times when you will be in positions to lose the ball. Having someone behind you that you can trust to get the ball no matter what gives our defense a lot of confidence."

McNeese will be aiming to exact a bit of revenge on NSU, as the Lady Demons sent the Cowgirls home in last year's SLC Tournament with a 5-0 win in the first round. On a day in which Gracie Armstrong was named conference player of the year, she scored twice to prove why she deserved the award.

"McNeese looks really good," Brophy said. "They look good on the ball and are strong defensively. They work hard and create good attacks, so we know we're in for a tough game. We've got to defend home turf, but we know it won't be easy."

Overall, NSU has a slight 17-16-6 edge against McNeese, but the Cowgirls have had the better of NSU recently. Even with the big victory by NSU in the conference tournament last season, McNeese is 6-3-1 in its last 10 meetings.

Last game, the Cowgirls scored twice in the first half to roll against Nicholls 3-0 this past Sunday.

Prior to the tournament matchup, the previous six meetings were decided by a total of six goals.

Following the match, NSU hits the road for three consecutive games, beginning with Oct. 6 at league-leading Lamar. NSU is back in Natchitoches on Oct. 15 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.