Xavier University of Louisiana Athletics

METAIRIE, La. - The Gold Nuggets unleashed a torrent of goals in the first half and cruised to a 10-1 win over Brewton-Parker in XULA's SSAC-opening match Saturday at Lafreniere Park.

Xavier (2-2-1, 1-0-0 SSAC) was meant to have played its first Southern States Athletic Conference match Thursday against Thomas (Ga.), but a severe thunderstorm forced that match to be postponed to a later date. 

Saturday, the home-standing Gold Nuggets scored six goals in the first half to put the game well out of reach for Brewton-Parker (2-5-0, 0-2-0 SSAC).

It did not take long for Xavier to strike, as Alba Mendez sent a ball past the left post at the 60-second mark with an assist from Maureen Owusu. 

The goal was not just fast; it was historically fast, besting the previous program record for fastest goal by five seconds. 

Owusu holds the distinction of having assisted on both the current and most recent record-fast goal. Last season, she connected with Samira Roper for a goal at the 65-second mark of a match against Texas A&M-San Antonio. 

Seven minutes after Mendez and Owusu's record-setting moment, Julia Gurgel scored on an assist from Keira Hardstaff to make the score 2-0. 

After Brewton-Parker pulled within 1 in the 16th minute, XULA scored four goals to pull away for good before halftime. Those goals came courtesy of Alina Paiz in the 19th minute with an assist from Hardstaff, Anita Roese in the 21st and 28th minutes, and Gurgel in the 39th. 

Juliana Kottbauer assisted on the second of Roese's goals, and Roese assisted on Gurgel's second goal. 

Gurgel eventually registered a hat trick, scoring on an assist from Mendez in the 54th minute.

Roese followed suit in the 63rd minute, completing her hat trick on an unassisted goal. 

Eduarda Queiroz capped the scoring with a second-half brace, goals in the 67th and 73rd minutes. The latter goal came on an assist from Shakiana Dagher. 

Defensively, the Gold Nuggets limited Brewton-Parker to just 5 shots, 3 of which were on goal. By comparison, XULA peppered Brewton-Parker with 27 shots, 20 of which were on goal. 

Xavier goalie Aylin Yildirim worked the entire match and made a pair of saves. 

It was International Day for XULA Women's Soccer, a game in which all of Xavier's international students and student-athletes were celebrated. The Gold Nuggets who hail from abroad wore the flags of their nations during the starting lineups.

Appropriately, many of the stars of the day for Xavier were all international players. Mendez is a native of Spain, Gurgel, Roese and Queiroz are from Brazil, Dagher is from Venezuela, Yildirim is from Switzerland, and Hardstaff is a product of Liverpool, England. Owusu and Juliana Kottbauer, both of whom had assists, are from Germany. 

XULA faces a pair of conference road matches next week, with a visit to Faulkner in Montgomery, Alabama, scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday and a noon game against Mobile, a team receiving votes in the national polls,  at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.