BEAUMONT, Texas -- Red hot and on a three-game win streak, the University of the Incarnate Word women's soccer team enters a tough road battle looking to keep its lead in a very tight Southland Conference race.

At 4-1 in conference play, the Cardinals are tied for the top spot in the SLC with Northwestern State, but hold a tie-breaker thanks to a 2-0 head-to-head win on Oct. 2. Both teams have 12 points.

Four other teams are within three points of the lead. McNeese (3-1-2) has 11 points, Lamar (3-1-1) has 10, while Houston Christian (2-0-3) and Nicholls (2-1-3) both have nine.

Of the five teams nipping at UIW's heels for the top spot, three are still on the Cardinal schedule. This includes a road matchup at Lamar this week.

Incarnate Word, which has shutout its last two opponents and earned an SLC Defensive Player of the Week award for Montanna Mathews on Tuesday, will take on their Cardinal counterparts in Beaumont at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Lamar (6-2-4, 3-1-1)

WHEN AND WHERE: Thursday, 7 p.m., Beaumont, Texas

ABOUT THE OPPOSING CARDINALS: Lamar brings one of the top-50 scoring defenses in the country into the matchup, as multiple keepers and a strong back line have surrendered just 10 goals, the fewest in the SLC. The Cardinals also bring in one of the conference's top goal scorers in Marissa Gross, who is second in the Southland with seven goals scored. Like Incarnate Word, Lamar is unbeaten at home, putting together a record of 3-0-2, including a 1-0-1 tally against SLC opponents.

MATHCUP HISTORY: In what's been a very strange series, UIW hasn't beaten Lamar in 13 meetings, but has tied their fellow Cardinals on six different occasions. The teams' first four matches all ended in ties, and after Lamar won seven in a row, the last two matchups also ended in draws. Atiana Lara and Mathews both scored for Incarnate Word in a 2-2 tie last season, while a 2024 meeting in Beaumont was scoreless.