NATCHITOCHES—There aren't many better ways to honor one of the best players in program history than to tie her in the record book on alumni day.

Emily Senatore scored a pair of goals to tie Heather Penico on the all-time goal scoring list with 21, and more importantly, lifted NSU (7-3-3, 2-1-1) to a thrilling 2-1 victory over in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana (3-5-3, 2-1-1) on Thursday evening at the Demon Soccer Complex.

Senatore scored her second goal to break a 1-1 deadlock in the 84^th minute and earn the Demons a huge Southland Conference victory and hand the Lady Lions their first conference loss of the season.

The junior from Oxford, Conn., tied Penico, who is being inducted into the N-Club Hall of Fame on Saturday, for 10^th in program history for career goals.

"It was a great win, especially to get the goal in the last 10 minutes," head coach Ian Brophy, who tied Stuart Gore for the fourth-most victories (24) in NSU history, said. "I am really happy, especially when you get those late goals.

"I was really pleased with the performance in general and the way we played throughout and the way we kept plugging away and creating chances. Even when it was 1-1, the way we dominated possession and continued to apply the pressure, and it ended up leading us to getting the game-winning goal."

Senatore's second goal came off a pass from Riley Stern, much like her first goal. Stern found Senatore, who spun around the defender and rolled one through the defense and past SLU goalkeeper Kendall Curran for her fifth game-winning goal of the season.

She relishes the late-game heroics, also scoring the winning goal in the closing minutes in last season's victory at UIW.

"I love having the ball at my feet late," Senatore said. "When it comes to the end of the game and we're not winning, we really have to put everything out there, so I feel like I was trying to that and come out with the goal."

Stern, making her first start of the season, also earned an assist on the first goal as well, passing it to Hosane Soukou, who passed it to Senatore. Senatore blasted one from outside the box tothe top left corner for the game's first goal in the 20^th minute.
Stern, a redshirt junior from Fort Worth, Texas, has recorded seven assists this season, tied for the fifth-most in school history for a single season.

"It felt great to get those assists," Stern said. "I love to set up teammates and see their joy when they can put it away and it makes me so excited to see them getting goals. I love being able to contribute for the team in any way."

NSU controlled much of the game's first half, which included Senatore's first goal. The Demons led 7-3 in shots in the first half and 13-8 for the game and have now won the shot battle in three of the four SLC games, with the other game being a tie against Stephen F. Austin.

Senatore and Stern led the team with three shot attempts each

The Lady Lions found the back of the net for the tie on a perfectly-placed ball sent into the box by Loegan Alia, and Alexandra Knight headed it in the back of the net for her second of the season in the 54^th minute.

It was the only shot on goal for SLU in the game, as the Demons defense thwarted the Lady Lions opportunities all evening.

"The defenders were really good all night," Brophy said. "In the first half, especially, we really limited their scoring chances. The defense played really well. Emily Mougia had a big night tonight, as did Sophia Minnillo and Jessica Spitzer. I am really proud of the way we played defensively."

NSU kept its head up after the SLU goal and kept fighting, ultimately leading to the Senatore goal in the final 10 minutes.

NSU remained undefeated at home, improving to 4-0-2 in front of the Natchitoches faithful.

The Demons are off until Oct. 9 when they welcome Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to Natchitoches for the second home game of a stretch of five home contests in six games.