HAMMOND—This season has been filled with adversity for the Northwestern State soccer team and next up is another chance for the team to overcome that adversity.

NSU (7-7, 4-2) aims to bounce back after a rare home loss as it travels to Southeastern Louisiana (7-6-2. 3-3-1) as the race for the Southland Conference regular season title heats up.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Strawberry Stadium and can be watched on ESPN+.

The Demons are one of four teams tied for second with 12 points—tied with UIW, Nicholls and Houston Christian—as they are all one point behind league-leading Lamar.

McNeese (11 points) and Southeastern (10) follow closely behind.

This is the second of five straight games to finish the regular season where the Demons do not leave the state of Louisiana.

"This whole season has been about how we bounce back when we've had those bumps and bruises and little downturns and hopefully we can bounce back again Thursday," head coach Ian Brophy said. "Hopefully we are able to get something rolling and finish out the season strong and put us in contention to compete for a conference championship. The approach for the remainder of the season is  to approach each game like it's the final. But we need to clean up some of those details and little defensive things."

Despite the fact that NSU is 10-1-2 in the last 13 meetings with the Lions, 12 of those 13 have been decided by one or fewer goals.

SLU's lone win in those 13 contests came in the last meeting in Hammond, as the Lions scored two goals in a span of six minutes in the second half to win 2-1 in 2024.

NSU's goal against HCU was scored off the foot of Tiana Cruz, who has been a major spark for the Demons offensively.

A junior from Woodbridge, Va., Cruz has scored six goals and recorded 15 total points, which ranks third and fourth on the team, respectively.

Including her goal last time out, she has posted at least one point in six of her last seven games played and her five points in Southland play are second on the team, only trailing Emily Gundin's seven, which are tied for the conference lead.

"Having so many different scorers makes it harder for a defense," fifth-year senior midfielder Riley Stern said. "You can't just put everybody on one person and the whole offense is shut down. We have a lot of dangerous pieces across the top, throughout the midfield and even in our back line. It is a great weapon we have."

The offense needs to be playing at a high level Thursday, as the Lions haven't given up more than one goal in a game in the month of October, a span of four contests.

SLU has won two in a row and has gone unbeaten in the last three, which includes a tie with HCU. The Lions have been impressive at home, going 2-1 during Southland play, which includes a victory over McNeese.

"This is another big game," Brophy said. "SLU is another tough team, and they are difficult to beat at their place. We know we have a tough matchup ahead of us, but if we approach it the right way and do the right things and we play our futbol, I think we should come out of the match successful, but it will be a tough one, no question."

Alexandra Knight  leads the SLU attack with eight goals and 16 points.

Following the match, the Demons head back home for two of the final three games, starting with a visit from Nicholls on Sunday to round out Homecoming weekend, one that sees former NSU head coach Jimmy Mitchell and former All-Conference standout Katie Priest both being inducted Saturday prior to the football game vs. Nicholls.