NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana women's soccer will play Southwest (N.M.) at home at 1 p.m. CDT Friday in the opening round of the Red River Athletic Conference Championships presented by Farmers Bank & Trust.
        The RRAC announced Sunday the pairings.
        The Gold Nuggets (11-4) are the No. 1 seed after winning the RRAC regular-season championship Saturday and one of the league's two automatic bids to NAIA nationals. The Mustangs (7-7-3) are the No. 8 seed.
        Game venue will be Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie, La. Admission will be free. It'll be a doubleheader; third-seeded XULA will play sixth-seeded LSU-Alexandria in an RRAC men's tournament game at 3:30 p.m.
        Eight women's teams and eight men's teams qualified for the RRAC postseason. All winners this week will advance to Texarkana, Texas, for semifinals and finals next week.
        This is XULA's first season of varsity soccer.
        The other RRAC women's matchups are seventh-seeded Our Lady of the Lake at second-seeded and defending champion Texas A&M-Texarkana, sixth-seeded Texas A&M-San Antonio at third-seeded LSU-Shreveport and fifth-seeded Louisiana Christian at fourth-seeded LSUA. The XULA-Southwest winner would play the LSUS-TAMUSA winner in the semifinals.
        XULA's leaders in goals scored are Amora Altmon with 12, Luci Schroeder with 11, Julia de Souza with nine and Britni Belmonte, Nuela Fonmedig and Amelia Suma with five apiece. Both goalkeepers, Theresa Wiesiolek and Luisa Bella, have produced multiple shutouts.
        XULA opened its RRAC schedule with a 5-1 home victory Sept. 14 against Southwest — the Gold Nuggets' first regular-season victory. Maya Sanchez leads the Mustangs this year with seven goals.
        WWL-TV predicts mostly sunny conditions for Friday with the high temperature in the low 70s.