CORPUS CHRISTI—Nothing ever comes easy for Northwestern State come Southland Conference Tournament time.

For the fourth consecutive game during the SLC Tournament, the Demons (11-7-2) fought with opponents into overtime.

After two penalty kick contests a year ago, Northwestern State wanted no part of another penalty kick shootout, as Taylor Spitzer sent home a header following a corner kick from Alina Graf to give the No. 4 seed Demons a 2-1 victory against the No. 5 seed Southeastern Louisiana (6-9-2).

"We definitely like to keep it exciting in the tournament," head coach Ian Brophy said. "It is definitely testing my heart. It was a really good result and a really good reaction from the girls. It was a great second half and both overtime periods. I thought we played really well."

Avenging the loss to SLU, the win sets up another match against top-seeded Stephen F. Austin, after the Demons fell in Nacogdoches this past Friday.

Spitzer, the First Team All-SLC selection, headed in the 13^th corner kick of the afternoon for Northwestern State to send the Demons to their fifth semifinal appearance in the last six seasons and fourth straight.

"13, Taylor Swift's lucky number, so I had to score on 13," Spitzer said. "On the goal, I just saw an opening in the middle and I knew I had to give it a shot. Just keep it down and put this in the back of the net."

Graf's helper is her fourth assist of the season, the fifth Demon to reach that mark in 2024 after no one did in 2023.

The magic number for Northwestern State continues to be two, as it improves its record to 10-0 this season when scoring at least twice.

While she connected on the game winner, Spitzer nearly found the back of the net in the first overtime.

Baumgartner passed it into Spitzer at the near post, but her shot was pushed just wide in the 93^rd minute.

While the Demons had the last laugh, it didn't start that way and stayed that way until past the midway mark of the second half.

Enter Dawson Marrs.

Baumgartner dribbled up the right flank and took her defender 1-on-1 before sending a cross into an open Marrs at the top of the box. The sophomore took a few steps up and blasted a shot that found the top right of the goal, past a leaping Kendall Curan, the SLC newcomer of the year.

"I saw an opening on that one," Marrs said. "I saw a pass to Q and luckily she dummied it for me and I just found an opening and put it in the top right corner."

That goal tied the game in the 74^th minute, the first time Northwestern State won after trailing at halftime this season.

The Demons led the battle in shots 13-8 and 9-4 in shots on goal, but it did not start the way Northwestern State wanted it to.

SLU dominated possession much of the first half, attempting the first five shots of the game, which led to the Lions goal in the 22^nd minute.

Katie Brown dribbled it up into the box, maneuvering through the Demons defense and put her left-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, past a diving Libe Banuelos.

The Lions fifth shot of the game found the back of the net, and they also led 6-1 after 25 minutes, but the tide turned shortly thereafter.

"We had to adjust to some things formationally," Brophy said. "Technically, we weren't playing the best, but after we made those adjustments and were able to calm down in possession, I felt like that really allowed us a platform to be competitive and we started to take over the game and control the game the way we're used to and that led us to getting that first goal in the second half."

Spitzer attempted a game-high four of the shots, with three being on frame. Her twin sister Jessica Spitzer recorded three shot attempts for the Demons.
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Piper Sullivan and Emma Ramsey each recorded two shot attempts, the only Lions with more than one shot attempt.

Northwestern State aims for another revenge game Thursday against rival Stephen F. Austin. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. on the campus of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.