ASHLAND – Seven straight matches without a loss, a 7-2-3 record and the best start to its league slate in program history have done nothing to break the Southern Oregon University women's soccer team into the NAIA top 25 poll.

If the Raiders want national respect, they'll have to take some from the only team in the Cascade Conference that seems to get any: Concordia (9-1-1 overall, 3-0 CCC), which will bring its No. 2 ranking to University Field on Thursday in a 3 p.m. clash for first place.

SOU collected two key road wins at Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho last week, improving to 3-0-1 in conference play to sit atop the standings. Their three-game homestand, which is the last of the season, starts with the Cavaliers, continues at 10 a.m. Saturday with Warner Pacific (1-5, 0-3) and ends on Oct. 26 with Oregon Tech (4-7-1, 1-3).

The Raiders' latest efforts earned them Cascade Conference Adidas Team of the Week recognition, but the ultimate prize would be knocking off the Cavaliers – hogs of the last 13 CCC regular season titles and 19-1 all-time against SOU.

Behind 17^th-year coach Grant Landy, the Cavaliers pace the conference in goals per game (3.4), assists (3.1), shots (23.0) and goals allowed (0.45). The Raiders are second in each of those categories.

Senior forward Hannah Kimsey leads the team with six goals and nine assists but is one of four Cavaliers among the CCC's top eight in points as Ashley Ames has six goals, Erin Huisingh five and Bobbi Eckler four.

Concordia and SOU are also the only teams that rival each other's balance. Twelve Cavs have goals to their credit, and, in SOU's 3-1 win at Eastern Oregon, junior Julie Zamzow (Boise, Idaho/Bishop Kelly) tallied twice to become the 13^th Raider to score this season.

Senior forward Sydney Paulsen (Loveland, Colo./Thompson Valley) scored her team-leading sixth goal during SOU's 2-1 win at College of Idaho, where the Raiders went up early and prevented their opponent from scoring multiple goals for the ninth time in 12 contests this year.

"We're getting closer to the way I can see us playing at our best," SOU interim head coach Jenni Rosenberg said. "There are some small things we need to tweak, and it'd be nice if we'd be more confident with the ball since we have so many girls who are so talented with it, but we played with lots of tenacity on that trip."

The Raiders have one goal against the Cavs in their last nine cracks at them. Concordia's only loss this year was against Embry-Riddle (Fla.), which was ranked No. 4 at the time.

"It's a huge game to every single one of these girls and I'd love to see them bring a high level of confidence to it and see what happens," Rosenberg said.

And she'd like them do the same against Warner Pacific, which is coming off a 4-1 loss to Concordia and in search of its first conference win since 2011. The Raiders are 10-3-2 in the series against the Knights but needed overtime to escape Portland with a 3-2 win last October.

Trisha Durham has two of the Knights' six goals in 2013. They've been outshot 85-35.