The Northwestern State Lady Demons (10-8 overall, 4-6 in the Southland Conference) are currently riding a three-game winning streak going into their last week of the regular season after beating Southeastern Louisiana (6-6-4 overall, 3-4-3 in the Southland Conference) 1-0 on Oct. 19 and Nicholls (3-14 overall, 1-9 in the Southland Conference) 3-2 on Oct. 21 in double overtime on Senior Night.
“I wanted to be sad because it is my last home game, but I just can’t be,” senior middle fielder April Ficarrotta said. “All the girls deserved this. We worked so hard.”
The Lady Demons scored two goals in the first three minutes of the game against Nicholls, and Ficarrotta was behind one of those points. She has scored the first goal in two of the last three games.
“I just think something we struggle with in the beginning of the year was setting the tone straight off the bat,” said Ficarrotta. “So, it was really good for us to show that we can go out there and set the tone right away and get them on their heels.”
Freshmen middle fielder Kaylee Dominy scored the winning goal in double overtime on a free kick to give the Lady Demons the win against Nicholls.
“As soon as Brittney got foul I said this is mine, I know it and I felt it,” said Dominy. She said she was extremely confident and knew all the practice they put in would pay off in this moment. “I was extremely comfortable. We work on them a lot in practice.”
Co-Head Coach Jess Jobe was proud of Dominy for stepping up with a lot of pressure on her and and executing the free kick to help give NSU the win.
“We control our own density and that is what this game [will] allow us the opportunity to do,” Jobe said. “If we go perform on Friday and take care of business, then we don’t have to wait and see what the other results are and hope and cross our fingers that we get in. But certainly, without these points today it would’ve put a lot of pressure on us going into the last weekend knowing it would’ve been an absolute must-win.”
After picking up both games this past week, the Lady Demons put themselves in a good position to make the Southland Conference tournament. Eight total teams will get into the tournament, and they are currently in the seventh spot with only one game reminding. The Southland Conference tournament starts on Oct. 31 in Beaumont, Texas.
The Lady Demons missed the tournament last year after finishing 11th in the conference and a 6-12 overall record.
The team is heading to Conway, Arkansas, to finish out the regular season, taking on Central Arkansas on Oct. 26.
Photo by Chris Reich.
