NATCHITOCHES—Isabella Ruggiano's goal in the 42^nd minute stood up as the Northwestern State soccer team captured its third consecutive victory with a 1-0 win over visiting Tarleton State on Thursday evening at the Demon Soccer Complex.

The Demons (3-4-1) won their third straight game after four straight losses to begin the year before a tie.

"They have a very good record and have conceded very few goals," head coach Ian Brophy said. "They have a very good team and are very well organized and work extremely hard. It is incredible how hard they work. For us to match that and really dominate possession and get a goal on the board and keeping a clean sheet, it makes us really happy."

It is the longest winning streak in the Ian Brophy era and the first time Northwestern State has collected four straight shutouts since 2021 when the Demons posted six straight clean sheets.

Ruggiano's strike from the top right of the box, going top left corner gave the home team a lead it would never relinquish.

"I got the ball from Taylor Spitzer out wide on the right," Ruggiano said. "I took the defender on and cut inside and shot with my left. It was just a crazy experience."

During the three-game winning streak, the Demons have out-scored the opposition 7-0.

Ruggiano is the fifth different Demons player to score the seven goals.

The Texans (4-3-3) fell to 1-1-3 against the Southland Conference with games against Houston Christian and Southeastern Louisiana still to come.

The game started slow, as each team registered just one shot attempt through the first 23 minutes.

Ruggiano, a senior from Indialantic, Florida, buried the game's lone goal with minutes remaining in the first half, much like Emily Gundin did this past Sunday at Alabama A&M.

Tarleton State had a few chances to tie the game at the end of the first half, but Libe Banuelos recorded two of her six saves to hold the Texans off the board.

Between Banuelos and Kora Fry, the Demons have won each of the past two SLC Goalkeeper of the Week awards and are aiming for another.

"It feels really good to come back and get a shutout," Banuelos said. "Between Kora and me, I think this shows we have a really good goalkeeper group. I have to give a lot of credit to the defense and the whole team because everyone worked extremely hard for these."

After halftime, Tarleton State put the heat on, but the defense stood tall.

The Texans out-shot the Demons 11-4 after halftime and 16-10 overall.

Seven of those shots from the visitors came in the final 15 minutes.

In the 77^th minute, a header from Una Hlynsdottir was grabbed by Banuelos. Hlynsdottir tried again three minutes later, but Banuelos recorded the save again.

The best chance the Texans had of knotting the game came in the 87^th minute following a foul right outside the top of the box.

Jenaya Brown's free kick was blocked by the defensive line and caromed back to her, but Emily Senatore blocked the second attempt to keep Tarleton State off the board and secure the shutout and third straight victory.

"We always stress that defense starts with the forwards and it's from front to back," Brophy said. "The back line was great again tonight and everybody else was putting in the work and covering the ground at midfield. They were all awesome."
The two attempts were two of Brown's game-high four shot attempts.

Paige Baumgartner recorded three shot attempts, all of which were on goal, as did Ruggiano, to lead the Demons.

Northwestern State finishes the weekend with Senior Day on Sunday against Mississippi Valley State to wrap up non-conference play. It welcomes Nicholls to Natchitoches to begin SLC play Sept. 21.