TEXARKANA, Texas - After a wild win over Our Lady of the Lake in the Red River Athletics Conference Championship Tournament semifinals, the Gold Nuggets find themselves a match away from a conference title and an automatic bid into the NAIA national tournament.
Xavier (10-2-4), the No. 2 seed, will face top-seeded LSU-Shreveport (12-6) at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Judy Kelley Morgan Field. The championship match will be broadcast live on Texas A&M Texarkana's streaming service.
To call Xavier and LSUS evenly matched might be an understatement. Beyond both boasting impressive records, the two teams tied 2-2 in their regular-season match-up.
In the semifinals, the Gold Nuggets outperformed a spirited Our Lady of the Lake team to take a thrilling 3-2 win.
XULA enjoyed a 2-0 lead at the half thanks to a seventh-minute goal by Anita Roese, who was assisted by Samira Roper. Roper scored a goal in the 33rd minute thanks to an assist by Shakiana Dagher.
Our Lady of the Lake scored an early-second-half goal, but the Gold Nuggets answered in the 73rd minute when Lea Cordier scored unassisted to put the game away for good.