Red River Athletic Conference standings

        PINEVILLE, La. — Xavier University of Louisiana women's soccer snagged a title and extended its debut season Saturday with a 1-0 Red River Athletic Conference victory against Louisiana Christian.
        The victory gave the Gold Nuggets (11-4 overall, 11-2 RRAC) the RRAC regular-season championship and one of the RRAC's two automatic bids to the NAIA national tournament, which will begin Nov. 16 at campus sites and conclude in Orange Beach, Ala., with the championship game Dec. 4.
        Luci Schroeder scored in the 72nd minute — Julia de Souza assisted — and XULA's defense continued to sparkle. The Gold Nuggets produced their fourth shutout in a row to close the regular season, the last two on the road with Theresa Wiesiolek in goal.
        It's worth repeating: XULA is a first-year program. The university announced 53 weeks ago it would launch varsity soccer teams for women and men, and Ashley Cordeiro was announced in January as head coach of the women. XULA lost its first two regular-season games by a combined 9-2, but the Gold Nuggets continued to work, build and find a niche.
        Saturday — the final day of the regular season — that niche was atop the RRAC standings, two points ahead of runner-up Texas A&M-Texarkana and three ahead of LSU-Shreveport and LSU-Alexandria.
        XULA served notice it could contend when it won 4-3 at home Sept. 30 against TAMUT — the first Eagles' first loss after a 10-0 start.
        Joining Schroeder, de Souza and Wiesiolek in the starting lineup against LCU were Amora Altmon, Britni Belmonte, Gabriela Gonzalez, Abby Martin, Grete Nelson, Maureen Owusu, Millicent Owusu and Amelia Thompson.
        Overall it was XULA's sixth shutout victory, and it was the first time in four tries that the Gold Nuggets won after failing to score in the first half. It was XULA's league-leading sixth victory on the road in RRAC competition.
        The Gold Nuggets will play host to the No. 8 seed late next week in the opening round — the quarterfinals — of the RRAC Tournament. Four teams will advance to the semifinals Nov. 9 at Texarkana, Texas, followed by the championship game two days later.