Though the No. 3-seed Lady Toppers could be considered one of the elite teams at this week’s Sun Belt Conference tournament, Head Coach Jason Neidell said he hopes they adopt a “blue-collar” mentality in their matches.

“There’s so little that separates the talent of the teams in our league that you need something intangible to carry your team over the top,” he said. “We really want to get after it and be tough as nails and hard-working and have that quality that makes the difference between good and great.”

Sophomore forward Mallory Outerbridge said the key will be “getting down and dirty and figuring out the details.”

The Lady Toppers (14-4-1, 9-2 Sun Belt) enter the conference tournament seeded behind Florida International at No. 1 and Denver at No. 2.

The Lady Toppers play No. 6-seed Arkansas State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in their first match of the tournament, held in Boca Raton, Fla.

The winner of that match will play either Denver or Troy, who face off at 3 p.m.

The Lady Toppers have never won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and have yet to reach the NCAA tournament, and Meinke said the team’s goal is to change that this season.

“We just need to win it,” she said. “We’re just going to play as hard as we can in order to do that.”

But Neidell said it’s going to be difficult to win three games in four days, especially with the loss of senior defender Katie Walker.

Walker broke her ankle in practice last Wednesday and will be inactive the rest of the season.

“That’s an unfortunate injury for us, because she’s a big part of that defense,” he said.

Despite the unexpected loss, Meinke said the team remains confident going into Wednesday’s matches.

“I think we have more momentum going into the postseason than last season,” she said.

The Lady Toppers lost to Denver 2-0 in the championship match of last season’s tournament.

Meinke said the team’s confidence is a result of advancing so far a year ago.

“Experience is going to be key,” she said. “We know what it’s like to get that far, so it makes us a little more prepared. We’ve been there, and now we expect to clinch the tournament title.”

Neidell said his team still has a few things to work on before the tournament.

“I’d like to see us improve our defensive organization, both our back four and our organization between our back four and our midfield,” he said. “Hopefully we just improve our communication and organization back there and sure things up.”