CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—With season one in the books, Northwestern State turns its sights to the postseason.

A familiar foe awaits the No. 4 Demons (10-7-2, 6-3-1) in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament, as they play in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana (6-8-2, 5-4-1), the No. 5 seed.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at the Dr. Jack Dugan Soccer and Track & Field Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"The fact that we get to go right into the tournament and immediately refocus about what is in front of us is nice and now we get to turn all of our attention to SLU now to try avenge that loss from earlier in the season."

Northwestern State aims to advance to its fifth tournament semifinal in the last six years. The only time it didn't earn a trip to the semis came in 2020 when the No. 4 Demons lost…..to No. 5 SLU, a scoreless tie before falling in penalty kicks.

Close games are a theme between these two teams, including the regular season meeting, which was a Lions 2-1 victory in Hammond in September.

In the regular season meeting, Taylor Spitzer recorded a goal in the first half before SLU scored twice in the second half to escape with the tight victory at Strawberry Stadium.

"They capitalized on their moments really well," Brophy said. "We know what we are in for in this game. They are going to be tricky and well organized and looking to take advantage of set pieces. That is how they got both goals last time. We know they will be looking for set pieces and will be really tough defensively, so we are going to have to play well."

Of the last 11 contests between the Demons and Lions, 10 of them have either been decided by one goal or zero goals.

Northwestern State is coming off a loss to Stephen F. Austin, while SLU was off this past Friday.

Prior to Friday, though, the Demons had won three in a row, scoring eight goals in the process.

The magic number of Northwestern State's offense is two. When scoring multiple goals, its record is 9-0, including finding the back of the net at least twice in every win during conference play.

Emily Senatore and Taylor Spitzer have combined for 14 goals for the Demons, as well as a total of 14 players have scored for the them this season. The first team SLC All-Conference selections recorded 11 of their goals during league play, tied for the most for any duo in the SLC.

"We will need to be clinical in our finishes and putting more on frame in this game," Taylor Spitzer said. "We'll need to go for rebounds and gamble because I know once we get one, we will be able to get a second."

However, the offensive opportunities could come few and far between, as the Lions have allowed just 26 goals and scored 16 overall and allowed 11 and scored nine in SLC play.

Jessica Spitzer rounds out the trio of Demons on the all-conference teams. The defender was a major part of the defense that held seven of the 10 opponents under two goals.

"I think playing against a team like SLU will bring our game up," Jessica Spitzer said. "We know the offensive chances will be hard to come by in this one, so we know we need to lock down defensively."

SLU has a member of the all-conference teams as midfielder Hannah McCord made the second team, recording three goals and one assist during SLC play, the only Lion to score more than one goal.

Her assist came on Hallie Roe's game-winning goal in the first meeting between the two teams.

The winner takes on the winner of No. 1 SFA and No. 8 UTRGV on Thursday in the semifinals.