MOBILE, Ala. — Xavier University of Louisiana men's soccer trailed twice Saturday but rallied for a tie at 2 with NAIA No. 8 Mobile.
        The Gold Rush (1-1-1), playing for the first time in 17 days, got goals from Julio Gruba in the 53rd minute and Nasser Benbella in the 79th on a penalty kick to snap the Rams' nine-game home winning streak.
        Mobile (4-1-1) led at halftime after Joseph McMahon's goal in the 32nd minute, and the Rams led 2-1 in the 70th minute on Illyes El Yansil's goal.
        It was the first time in five games dating to last season that XULA scored on the road.
        This was the third game against a ranked opponent for XULA, a second-year varsity program. The Gold Rush lost 1-0 in 2023 and this season at NAIA top-25 William Carey.
        "Mobile is the best team I've coached against at the collegiate level, and their coach (Daniel Whelan) is someone I look up to career-wise," XULA head coach Gonzalo Carranza said. "Mobile's No. 8 national ranking is probably still modest when talking about them.
        "We schedule these games in hopes to get closer to that caliber of program. It's an ongoing process that will take time, but today we got a little closer to that bracket. It's definitely not celebrated as a win, but I need to give my guys credit for tying an extremely talented team at their place after going down a goal twice."
        Next for the Gold Rush will be two road games to start the Red River Athletic Conference schedule: 3:30 p.m. MDT Sept. 19 at Southwest in Hobbs, N.M., and 1:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Paul Quinn in Dallas. XULA's next home game will be Sept. 28.
        "We are ready for conference play," Carranza said.