NATCHITOCHES—As the race for the Southland Conference championship heats up, so has Northwestern State, as it rolled to its fourth straight victory, a 3-0 triumph over in-state rival McNeese on Thursday evening at the Demon Soccer Complex.

NSU (10-3-3, 5-1-1) scored multiple goals for the fourth consecutive game, as the offense tallied goals from Marissa Henderson, Hosane Soukou and Paige Baumgartner to climb one step closer to a regular season conference championship.

The Demons have a four-point edge on second-place Stephen F. Austin, five-point lead on Southeastern Louisiana and six-point lead on both East Texas A&M and McNeese.

"The last two games, fighting for first, the trend that we've been putting together with scoring three goals the last two games, you can't be too disappointed with that," head coach Ian Brophy said. "I am really pleased with the way we played tonight, controlling possession and creating dangerous chances, we were able to put them away.

"I was especially happy with the way we started the second half after a cagey first half. To open up the second half and start punishing them and getting some goals was really fun."

Like the previous game at East Texas A&M, the Demons had chances but could not find the back of the net for much of the first half.

While NSU waited until the second half against East Texas A&M this past Sunday to score, the Demons did not wait that long for goal No. 1 this time around.

The Demons dominated the first half, out-shooting the Cowgirls 16-2 in the opening 45 minutes but could not score until Henderson broke the ice in the final three minutes.

Following a corner kick, Jessica Spitzer passed it in the middle of the box to Soukou and her shot was blocked before the rebound bounced out to Henderson and she did the rest.

"It felt really cool to score that goal," Henderson said. "That goal got the momentum started for our team. We got some goals after, which was really cool to bring up the energy and finally get that one in after a really tough half."

It was the second straight game with a goal for Henderson, who scored the final goal in the win in Commerce.

That goal broke the dam for the Demons, as they scored three goals in 9:38, spanning the two halves to put the game away.

Soukou's goal came in the 50^th minute, as Dawson Marrs tried to cross the ball, but the McNeese defense tried to clear it out. The ball was booted right to Soukou on the left side of the box and Soukou blasted it past Celeste Marijnissen to double the lead.

"I was making those runs and those passes today," Soukou said. "I was always looking for my teammates, and they were always making the right movements, and they helped me play so well tonight."

Soukou finished off her impressive day with a perfect cross to Baumgartner, who rolled it into the net to essentially put the game away in the 52^nd minute.

It was one of a career-high seven shot attempts for Baumgartner, who nearly had a hat trick since she hit the crossbar and posts in the first half.

"Despite hitting posts in the first half, I just continued to take shots and hopefully one of them will fall into the back of the net," Baumgartner said. "Of course, Hosane's cross to me was beautiful and it was a nice, easy little tap in for me. I was for sure hunting for a goal tonight."

The defensive finished off the victory, as it surrendered just eight shot attempts with five of them coming after pressing with the game at 3-0.

Kennedy Rist wasn't forced to be busy, but she made the plays when called upon. She recorded three saves for her sixth solo shutout of the season.

NSU wraps up the home schedule with a visit from UIW on Sunday before finishing off the regular season with visits to Lamar (Oct. 23) and Nicholls (Oct. 30).