RUSTON—A familiar foe awaits the Northwestern State women’s soccer team when it opens the regular season Sunday.
For the fifth straight season, NSU will play Louisiana Tech in the non-conference divisional regular season.
The road game is at 1 p.m. at Robert McCarthy Field and can be seen on CUSA.TV.
Although it was the first game for the Lady Demons, the Lady Texans (1-0) had already played their opener, winning 2-1 against Murray State on Friday afternoon.
NSU begins his second year as head coach Stuart GoreHe led the team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 in his first year.
The team played an exhibition game on August 13th with NSU winning 1-0 at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex in Little Rock.
Gore was able to get a feel for the team in the exhibition game setting.
“We know what we have now,” Gore said. “We know what we want and the girls have an idea of what we want this year.”
A season ago, Gore was thrust into the role in June and had little time before the season to familiarize himself with his style with his new team.
In the second year, the players are very comfortable with everything they do.
“I’ve been very comfortable with (head) coach (Stuart) Gore in two years,” Sr Sam Hanking he said. “He’s done a great job of getting the team to know each other and the new system and the new system and everything. It’s been great.”
Hanking is one of 11 NSU seniors and graduate students ready for their final season opener.
“Playing my last season opener at NSU is bittersweet,” she said. “I’m sad to leave my teammates behind. I’m looking forward to another successful season and I’m excited to get back on the field.”
NSU had a major league eight players selected to the preseason all-conference teams. One of them, Natalie HenryHe scored the only goal in the three sessions of the exhibition.
A key battle in the camp has been at goaltending between transfers. Chloe DeShazer And Kora fry. Both players did not allow a goal and stopped one Little Rock shot attempt in the exhibition.
“They’re both very similar in height,” Gore said. “They both push each other and they both work hard and (assistant head coach) Eric (Masters) only has good things to say about them.”
The goalkeepers are two of 13 newcomers on the veteran team. But while many of the faces are new, the team is coming along well in camp.
“We have a lot of new players, both transfers and freshmen,” said the senior. Jaylen Donaldson he said. “I think everyone is getting along really well. It’s a new system and a new style of play, so I think it’s been great.”
In Louisiana Tech’s season opener, Carmen Suarez broke a 1-1 tie with a 75 free kick.Th minute, which turned out to be the deciding factor in the season opener.
The Lady Texans return 18 letterwinners from last year’s team, led by second-team All-Conference USA and All-Louisiana defenseman Josie Studer, who led Tech in minutes (1,399), goals (4) and points (9) last season.
“They’re a good possession team. They have a good group of returning players. It’s going to be a tough game for us,” Gore said.
Last season, the teams met in Nattoches to a goalless draw. Overall, NSU holds a 5-1-2 advantage in the series, with Tech’s win coming in 2019.
NSU continues a four-game road swing to start the season with a trip to Arkansas State on Thursday at 2 p.m. The team’s first home contest is on Sept. 9 against Jackson State, which begins a three-game home stand.
