HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Xavier University of Louisiana scored first and led for 25 minutes, but NAIA No. 2 William Carey scored all its goals in the second half to earn a 5-1 women's soccer victory Sunday.
        It was the first regular-season game for both teams.
        XULA scored first on Faye Butterworth's free kick in the 26th minute but managed only one shot thereafter. William Carey's Christina Salmon erased the Gold Nuggets' halftime lead with a goal in the 52nd minute, then the Crusaders went ahead to stay in the 67th minute on Esalenna Galekhutle's goal.
        The Crusaders pulled away with goals by Kristina Decker in the 73rd minute, Virginia Mesa in the 76th minute and Valeria Barajas in the 78th minute.
        Theresa Wiesiolek tied her XULA game record with nine saves.
        William Carey is 50-0-1 at its Danny Owens Field since October 2018, and its current home win streak is 11. The Lady Crusaders are 103-7-4 overall since the start of the 2019 season and was NAIA national runner-up three of the past four seasons, including 2023.
        This is XULA's second season in this sport. The Gold Nuggets were 13-6 overall and 11-2 in the Red River Athletic Conference in 2023. They won the RRAC regular-season championship and lost 2-0 at Carey in the second round of NAIA nationals.
        Next for XULA: 1 p.m. Aug. 27 — one week from Tuesday — against Georgia Gwinnett at Lafreniere Park in Metairie, La. Admission is free to all XULA home games. Like XULA, Georgia Gwinnett was among "others receiving votes" in last week's NAIA preseason coaches poll.
        NOTES:  At kickoff the temperature was 99 degrees with a heat index of 108 . . . Joining Butterworth and Wiesiolek in XULA's starting lineup were Britni Belmonte, Shakiana Dagher, Julia de Souza, Gabriela Gonzalez, Crislyn Gregory, Maureen Owusu, Millicent Owusu, Samira Roper and Luci Schroeder . . . Dagher, Gregory and Roper are juniors in their first season at XULA.