LAFAYETTE—For the first time in the regular season, the Northwestern State soccer team does not have to leave the state of Louisiana.

NSU (0-3) continues its non-conference slate with a trip down I-49 to battle UL Lafayette (2-0-2) on Thursday at the Home Bank Soccer & Track Complex.

Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Demons aim to bounce back following a loss to Arkansas, as it wraps up a string of four consecutive matches on the road to begin the season.

After playing three consecutive matches on the road against power conference teams, NSU heads to Lafayette to face a Ragin' Cajuns team that has surrendered just two total goals this season.

ULL has played another SLC team already this season, winning on the road against McNeese 2-1 to open the season.

"They are a good team," head coach Ian Brophy said. "We have played against them in scrimmages the last couple of years. They look really good. They look strong in possession. It will be another good team to test ourselves against. We're going to have to play our best futbol to get a good result over there."

It also marks the first regular season matchup against UL Lafayette since familiar foe Chris McBride became its head coach before the 2022 season.

Prior to accepting the head coaching job with the Ragin' Cajuns, he was the head coach at Southeastern Louisiana.

In his years with the Lions, McBride went 1-7-2 against NSU. However, one of those ties was the win in penalty kicks in the Spring 2021 season on their way to a Southland Conference Tournament win as the No. 4 seed in the tournament.

Overall, NSU is 8-9 all-time against ULL and 4-6 on the road. The matchup is the first regular season meeting since 2019, which NSU won in double overtime on a goal by Olivia Draguicevich.

For NSU, the leading scorer from a season ago, Taylor Spitzer made her season debut last time out at Arkansas, playing 30 minutes. The junior has eight career goals and led the team in goals (4), points (9), shots (57) and shots on goal (21) in 2023.

While the Lady Demons have not put one into the back of the net quite yet, they know if they stay patient, the goals will come.

"I feel once we get the elusive first goal, the dam will break for us," Tiana Cruz said. "As soon as we get that one goal, they are going to keep falling in for us."

Goalkeeper Libe Banuelos has recorded 26 saves through the first three games this season, the second-most in the Southland Conference, but the most saves per game in the conference.

She is coming off an eight-save performance at Arkansas.

The only goalkeeper to record more saves is McNeese's Jackie Kelly, but she has played four games to make her 28 stops.

Fellow goalkeeper Kennedy Rist made her NSU debut in the loss to Arkansas, making six saves, including an impressive diving stop immediately upon entering the contest.

Despite the record, Brophy knows there are positives he can take away from the first three games.

"Overall, we have played well for large stretches in all three games," he said. "If anything, it has just been little periods and moments that have let us down. I do think we have played a lot of really good futbol in that period. There was a lot of good we can take away from those three games."

In practice, senior midfielder Sabrina Lopez can see the improvement from one day to the next and knows the results will come.

"I think with every day, we get a little bit better," Lopez said. "In practice, we work every day and figure out our mistakes and then correct them and get better every single game."

Following the trip to Lafayette, NSU finally plays its first regular season game in front of the home fans Sunday at noon against former Southland Conference member Abilene Christian.

It is the beginning of a stretch that sees the Lady Demons play five of their next six games at home, including the conference opener against Nicholls.