MOBILE, Ala. — Poppy Binding and Madison Hitzman scored two goals apiece Wednesday to lead Spring Hill in a 4-1 women's soccer victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.
        Next for the Gold Nuggets (0-2) will be their Red River Athletic Conference opener: 1 p.m. CDT Sept. 14 against Southwest (N.M.) at Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie, La. Admission is free to all XULA soccer home games.
        Hitzman scored twice in the first 16 minutes — Binding assisted on the second goal — then Binding's score in the 29th minute gave the Badgers (1-2) a 3-0 halftime lead.
        Britni Belmonte's goal in the 46th minute for XULA cut the margin to 3-1, but Binding scored again nine minutes later.
        Spring Hill had advantages of 9-6 in shots and 7-4 in shots on goal. XULA goalkeeper Luisa Bella played all 90 minutes and had three saves.
        "It wasn't good enough, and we know that," XULA head coach Ashley Cordeiro said. "I scheduled two tough non-conference opponents to test us and to challenge us — and they definitely did. There are still a lot of things we need to work on as we prepare for conference."
        Belmonte and Gabriela Gonzales played all 90 minutes. The other XULA starters were Ella-Mae Miller, Amelia Thompson, Charley Prouse, Julia de Souza, Maureen Owusu, Millicent Owusu, Amelia Suma and Luci Schroeder. At kickoff — 1:03 p.m. CDT — it was partly cloudy, 92 degrees, heat index 94, humidity 40 percent, southeast wind at 7 mph. The game ended at 3:02 p.m.
        Spring Hill is an NCAA Division II member. XULA is a longtime NAIA member. This is XULA's first season of varsity soccer.