NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Shakiana Dagher was named Tuesday as Red River Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week in women's soccer.
        The award covered competitions from Oct. 6-12. It's Dagher's first weekly award this season and her second in two XULA seasons.
        Dagher — a junior defender from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, and a transfer from two-year Arizona Western College — helped the Gold Nuggets (6-2-2 overall, 5-0-1 RRAC) win at home 2-0 Thursday against Texas A&M-Texarkana and 8-0 Saturday against Jarvis Christian. Dagher scored a goal against Jarvis.
        XULA is the only Red River team in the last five seasons (2021-25) to not allow a goal in its first six conference games.
        Upcoming games:
        •  Thursday at A&M-Victoria, Victoria, Texas . . . women 1 p.m., men 3:30 p.m.
        •  Saturday at North American, Missouri City, Texas . . . women 1 p.m., men 3:30 p.m.
        •  Oct. 23 at home vs. Louisiana Christian, Lafreniere Park . . . women 1 p.m., men 3:30 p.m.
        •  Oct. 25 at LSU-Shreveport, Shreveport, La. . . . women 1 p.m., men 3:30 p.m.

Photo of Shakiana Dagher by Matthew Hinton