NEW ORLEANS —
Xavier University of Louisiana men's soccer will compete for the first time
when the Gold Rush play Jones College at 5 p.m. CDT Sunday at Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie, La.
Admission is free to all home games.
Facebook Live video will be available.
The National Weather Service forecast: sunny, high of 99 degrees and a slight chance of thunderstorms.
The heat index could reach 115.
It will be the first of two exhibitions
for the XULA men before they play their first regular-season game at 7 p.m. Aug. 29
at William Carey in Hattiesburg, Miss. The first regular-season home game will
start at 3 p.m. Sept. 1 against Tougaloo,
and the Gold Rush debut in the Red River Athletic Conference
will start at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 against Southwest (N.M.) at Lafreniere.
XULA will play all its home games
at Lafreniere. That facility is at 3000 Downs Blvd. and is 8.6 miles west of the XULA campus.
Vehicles on Interstate 10 can use exit 225 at Veterans Memorial Boulevard.
The 25-player Gold Rush roster consists of:
•
Rajuan Beckford, a freshman defender from Metairie
•
Juan Braz, a freshman defender from Campinas, Brazil
•
Dany Cuellar, a freshman defender from Kenner, La.
•
Eduardo dos Santos, a sophomore defender from Belo Horizonte, Brazil
•
Pierce Dugas, a freshman midfielder from Lafayette, La.
•
Caleb Evans, a freshman midfielder from Cardiff, Wales
•
Marcello Ferraz, a sophomore defender from Teixeira de Freitas, Brazil
•
Victor Ferraz, a junior forward from Teixeira de Freitas, Brazil
•
Julio Gruba, a junior midfielder from Curitiba, Brazil
•
Nicolas Kuwae, a freshman midfielder from Lima, Peru
•
Jackson Kuykendall, a freshman forward from Huntersville, N.C.
•
Samuel Martinez, a freshman defender from Metairie
•
Guilherme Martins, a freshman defender from Goiania, Brazil
•
Leonardo Menzen, a junior midfielder from Cuiaba, Brazil
•
Gustavo Oliveira, a junior forward from Governador Valadares, Brazil
•
John Orgah, a sophomore forward from Abuja, Nigeria
•
Emilio Peguero, a freshman midfielder from Kenner
•
Francisco Pinochet, a freshman goalkeeper from Santiago, Chile
•
Sebastian Pinto, a freshman midfielder from La Serena, Chile
•
Fabricio Reis, a sophomore defender from Seabra, Brazil
•
Ignacio Solorza, a sophomore midfielder from Santiago, Chile
•
Savo Sretenovic, a freshman defender from Novi Pazar, Serbia
•
Caio Tascheto, a junior defender from Rondonopolis, Brazil
•
Anthony Williams, a freshman forward from Denham Springs, La.
•
Breno Zanolla, a sophomore goalkeeper from Sao Paulo, Brazil
XULA's head coach is
Gonzalo Carranza,
who led Eastern Oklahoma State College
in 2022 to a 12-6-3 record, a district championship, a berth at National Junior College Athletic Association
Division I nationals and a No. 19 national ranking.
Lucas Cordeiro is assistant coach.
The other Gold Rush exhibition will start at 4 p.m. Wednesday
at LSU-Eunice. XULA women's soccer will make its debut that day — a 6:30 p.m. exhibition at LSUE.
The remainder of the 2023 XULA men's home schedule:
• Sept. 1 (Friday) vs. Tougaloo, 3 p.m.
• Sept. 14 (Thursday) vs. Southwest (N.M.), 3 p.m.
• Sept. 16 (Saturday) vs. Paul Quinn, 1 p.m.
• Sept. 28 (Thursday) vs. LSU-Shreveport, 3 p.m.
• Sept. 30 (Saturday) vs. Texas A&M-Texarkana, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 19 (Thursday) vs. Houston-Victoria, 3 p.m.
• Oct. 22 (Sunday) vs. Huston-Tillotson, 11 a.m.
Gustavo
Oliveira photo by Yamlak Tsega
