HOUSTON—Northwestern State women's soccer found many positives last time out and is aiming for more progress and consistency when it faces Houston on Thursday, the team's third consecutive road game against a power conference team.

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

Despite falling last time out at LSU, the Demons (0-2) saw many improvements from game two to the opening game at Oklahoma, starting with the scoreless tie going into halftime.

In a scoreless first half, the Demons were phenomenal against the Tigers, going toe-to-tie with the team ranked in the top 20. LSU eventually broke through in crucial moments to come away with the victory, so coach Ian Brophy is aiming for more consistency, as he and his team aims to work toward putting it together for a full 90 minutes.

"What we are looking to do is keep improving the performances while keeping the intensity high," Brophy said. "We want to keep that intensity and focus we had against LSU in the first half and stretch that over 90 minutes and be more consistent. If we do that and do the little things well, we should be able to get some results."

NSU had chances to find the back of the net but were ultimately thwarted by the powerful SEC defenses. Both Paige Baumgartner and Emily Gundin have recorded two shot attempts and caused problems for the LSU defense.

However, arguably the biggest bright spot in that first half was the play of goalkeeper Saki Tsuchiya, who made three saves with two being impressive stops to keep the game scoreless in the opening 45 minutes.

"We learned a lot from the first game against Oklahoma," junior defender Kate Bouck said. "I think both of those first two games exposed places we need to work on as opposed to if we were playing teams not as talented. They were able to expose some things we need to work on, so we can fix those things early."

Houston (0-0-1) has been off since Aug. 12, a scoreless draw on the road against Florida Gulf Coast.

The Cougars are coached by Ben Williams, who spent a season at Stephen F. Austin in 2024, before making his way to Houston. In his one season with the Ladyjacks, he led them to the conference regular season and tournament championship.

This offseason, he brought in one of his former goalkeepers in Sierra McCluer from SFA, and she wasted little time impressing for her new team, as she pitched a shutout against FGCU, recording three saves.

In his first season with Houston, Williams led the Cougars to a mark of 7-4-7 after the program posted a record of just 4-12-1 in 2024, including just one victory in Big 12 play.

"Obviously with him at SFA, we are a little bit familiar with him," Brophy said. "But we haven't experienced Houston's Ben Williams, and they are going to be a little bit different, and I am sure he has changed things about the way they play.

"All I know is that when you go up against a team coached by him, it is going to be a really good team, and they are going to be really well organized and they are going to be a tough team to beat. I know we'll have our work cut out for us."

Competing against another power conference school, the Demons are testing themselves right out of the gate, as NSU aims to be battle-tested by the time Southland Conference play.

"Playing against a power conference team is never easy," freshman forward Alexia Adimmah said. "I am really happy my team stayed motivated throughout the game, despite the score. I am really happy of the grit we have, even if things didn't go our way in the first two games."

NSU continues its string of five consecutive games on the road to begin the season with a trip to UL Lafayette on Sunday before wrapping up the stretch with a visit to Alcorn State on Sept. 3. The Demons return to Natchitoches to start their home schedule on Sept. 6 against Louisiana Tech.