HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team will begin defense of its Southland Conference regular season title this week, opening league play with a pair of road matches.

Southeastern (6-2-1) is 8-5-1 all-time in Southland Conference openers heading into Friday's 7 p.m. league opener at Northwestern State (6-4). On Sunday, the Lady Lions head to Conway, Ark. for a 1 p.m. match with Central Arkansas (4-4-1).

The Lady Lions closed non-conference play with a 2-1 loss at Louisiana Tech. Junior Karly Dagys scored Southeastern's only goal in the loss, which snapped a four-match winning streak.

Heading into league play Southeastern features the No. 2 ranked scoring offense in Division I with 35 goals and 107 points. Junior Maiya Cooper has 10 goals and 22 points to lead the team, ranking among the national leaders in goals (10^th), goals per game (1.25, 3^rd) and points per game (2.75, 5^th).

Sophomore Kelsey Salcido follows with six goals, while junior Megan Miller has netted five goals. Dagys, junior Kerry McWhirter, junior Sam McNally and sophomore Jaci Teresinski have three goals apiece.

Dagys and junior Lauren Stillians share the national lead with eight assists this season, while Salcido is eighth with seven assists. Led by national leader Stillians, all three rank among Division I's top six in terms of assists per game.

Cooper heads into Sunday's match among the school career leaders in points (80, 3^rd), goals (35, 3^rd) and game-winning goals (9, 3^rd). Dagys is among the Southeastern career top 10 in points (55, 9^th), assists (21, 4^th), game-winning goals (7, 6^th) and shots (149, 8^th). Cooper's season-goal total is the 10^th-best ever by a Lady Lion, while Stillians and Dagys' 2011 assist tallies are tied for seventh-most in school history.

Defensively, senior Kyle MacIntosh, sophomore Shanyce Shaw, freshman Jennifer Marzi and junior Kalyn Tanner have helped the Lady Lions hold opponents to seven goals this season. Teresinski is 4-1 in the net with a 0.60 goals against average and three shutouts, sharing time in the net with junior Cassie Northrup (0.95 GAA).

Northwestern State closed non-conference play with an 8-2 win over Texas Southern last Wednesday. Senior Meghan Hunter leads the team with five goals and four assists. Sophomore Yanci Johnson has added three goals. Sophomore Jessica Danku has handled the majority of the goalkeeping duties and has an 0.90 goals against average.

Friday will mark the 29^th meeting between the Lady Lions and Lady Demons with Southeastern holding a 17-10-1 edge. Last season, Southeastern clinched the Southland regular season title with a 3-0 win over NSU in Hammond.

Central Arkansas, which hosts Nicholls State on Friday, begins league play with a three-game winless streak after battling to a scoreless tie with Mississippi Valley State in their most recent outing. Sophomore Madison Poteet leads the team with three goals, while four other Bears have two goals apiece. Sophomore Lyndzey Goff (0.81 GAA) and junior Kelsey Gochnauer (0.95 GAA) have split time in goal for UCA.

The Lady Lions have a 4-1 record all-time versus Central Arkansas. Dagys scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over the Bears last season in Hammond.

Sunday's match will close Southeastern's second four-match road swing of the season. Next Friday, Oct. 7, Southeastern returns home to host Lamar at 4:30 p.m. at Southeastern Soccer Complex.