STARKVILLE, Miss.—Continuing its road swing to begin the season, the Northwestern State soccer team aims to collect its first win of the season when it travels to take on No. 18 Mississippi State on Sunday.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at the MSU Soccer Field.

It is being televised on SEC Network+.

NSU (0-1) aims to bounce back following a season-opening 3-0 loss on the road at SMU, while MSU (1-0) scored a goal in the third minute, which stood as the lone tally in a 1-0 home victory against Baylor in its opener.

The teams met last season with the Bulldogs scoring in the fifth minute en route to a 3-0 win over NSU in the second game of the Ian Brophy era.

"We both are different teams than last year," Brophy said. "With that being said, having been there and the surroundings and atmosphere they can create, it should provide some familiarity. We're excited about this challenge of playing a top-20 team."

Overall, the teams have met seven times, with MSU winning all seven matches. This contest is the sixth that comes in Mississippi. In 2009, NSU hung right with MSU in Natchitoches before falling 2-1.

NSU is focusing on improving each game and aims to be playing its best come Southland Conference play.

"We are taking it game-by-game and focusing on getting better in practice each day," senior Caroline Hilliard said. "We are just focusing on ourselves and making sure each day is better than the last."

One item Brophy was trying to improve was the offense, and while the Lady Demons did not find the back of the net against a talented SMU back line, NSU was not without chances.

An offsides wiped away one chance in the first half and NSU tallied five shots from five different players but could not find the back of the net to cut into the deficit.

The star of the evening for the Lady Demons was goalkeeper Libe Banuelos.

Banuelos, a native of Deusto, Basque, recorded 11 saves to try to keep her team in the game in the loss at SMU. She made impressive save after impressive save.

Brophy showed his trust in his bench, as a total of 21 athletes played in the game at SMU, including 11 players logging at least 50 minutes.

Outside of Banuelos, the only athletes who played in at least 65 minutes were Jessica Spitzer (90 minutes) and Madison Murphy (74).

Her 11 saves are tied for the most in the conference, tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Zoe Theriot.

MSU, which made the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in 2023, are expected to be a contender in the SEC once again.

"They are a great team with a lot of great players," senior Emily Mougia said. "These games are really important for us to grow as a team and individually."

NSU continues the stretch of four consecutive matches on the road to begin the season with another SEC foe, traveling to Arkansas on Aug. 25 before wrapping up the stretch with an in-state trip to UL Lafayette on Aug. 29.

The trips to MSU and Arkansas are the first back-to-back games against SEC opponents since 2015 when NSU played at Texas A&M and LSU.