NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana women's soccer will play Thursday its first regular-season game, an 11 a.m. CDT matchup with NAIA No. 7 Tennessee Southern.
        All XULA home games are played at Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie, La., and admission is free. Facebook Live video will be available. The National Weather Service forecast: mostly sunny, high of 96 degrees and a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. The heat index could reach 110.
        The Gold Nuggets have nearly three weeks of practices and one exhibition game — a 3-1 victory Aug. 16 at LSU-Eunice — on their resume. XULA's opponent is a three-time NAIA national champion — those titles earned when the school was known as Martin Methodist — and Will Austin is 128-17-11 (.856) in his eighth season as the Firehawks' head coach.
        Tennessee Southern opened its regular season with a 4-1 home victory Saturday against Pikeville. Hikaru Uchida scored twice, and Marina Nawa and Kamilia Tayebi had the Firehawks' other goals.
        Against LSU-Eunice, Ella-Mae Miller scored XULA's first two goals, and Faye Butterworth had the third.
        This will be the first of seven XULA home games in the regular season. The next one will start at 1 p.m. Sept. 14 against Southwest (N.M.) in the Gold Nuggets' Red River Athletic Conference opener. A Sept. 1 home doubleheader against Tougaloo was canceled at Tougaloo's request.
        XULA men's soccer will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., for its regular-season debut: 7 p.m. Tuesday against NAIA No. 9 William Carey.