BATON ROUGE—Northwestern State continues its strong non-conference slate with an in-state trip to No. 16 LSU on Sunday.

Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Stadium and will be televised on SEC Network+.

NSU (0-1) aims to brush off a loss on opening night to Oklahoma, as LSU (0-1) plays its home opener after dropping a tough game at No. 18 Wake Forest in a matchup of two top 20 teams.

"We were excited to get LSU on the schedule, given its tournament appearance last year," head coach Ian Brophy said. "That is a team that, if we make the NCAA Tournament, we could end up facing, so to have that experience against them is crucial.

"It definitely helps us prep for the rest of the season as well because when we get through these first three to four games, we can start to settle in and getting to play the same way but keeping the high intensity like we're playing Oklahoma, LSU or Houston."

The last time the Demons played against a ranked team was the 3-2 upset last season of No. 19 Texas, the first ranked victory in program history.

This game is the second of five straight games on road, including three consecutive matches against power conference teams to begin the season.

"Our excitement level is through the roof," sophomore Kendall Hemperley said. "To play against another big school is amazing. Getting to go play those big schools is a confidence booster for us, no matter the outcome."

It is the second time a Brophy-coached Demons team is playing LSU in the fall, as NSU fell 2-1 in his first season as the head coach.

Of the players who saw action in that game for NSU, seniors Emily Gundin and Riley Stern are the ones who are still on the Demons.

Despite the defeat to Oklahoma, Demons goalkeeper Saki Tsuchiya made several nice stops, including making a kick save in the first half with the score still within striking distance.

The junior matched a career high with seven saves.

True freshman Alexia Addimah played 62 minutes, starting in her first career game with the Demons. It's the fifth consecutive season that a true freshman has started the regular season opener for NSU, and it has happened every year under Brophy.

True freshmen who also started the regular season opener under Brophy were Hemperley (2025), Ravina Sandhu, Emma Pethel (2024) and Dawson Marrs (2023).

Also, against Oklahoma, eight players saw their first action for NSU and three saw their first collegiate action—Addimah, Addi Lehnertz and Jaida Tucker.

The five transfers who logged their first minutes for NSU were Tsuchiya, Maliya Maldonado, Rhiley Potteiger, Iesha Rollins and Bonnie Miller.

"These are hard games," Potteiger said of the early season tests. "But what we like about them so much is that it challenges us and we have the opportunity to prove we can play with these big schools and all this hard work is to prove we can play with them and get results from it."

Against OU, Gundin and Paige Baumgartner attempted the two shots for the Demons, with Gundin nearly scoring NSU's first goal of the season immediately following OU's opening goal of the contest.

Gundin, a senior from Valrico, Fla., will appear in her 50^th game for the Demons when she next steps onto the field.

Following the match, the Demons head to Houston to battle the Cougars on Thursday, the third of five consecutive road games to begin the regular season, wrapping up the road trip with UL Lafayette (Aug. 23) and Alcorn State (Sept. 3).