By: Brent Raines ~Sports Editor~

The men’s and women’s soccer teams kicked off conference play last weekend, as the teams split their opening games against DePaul. Men’s soccer was victorious, with senior forward Calum Latham’s golden goal breaking a scoreless 105 minutes of play. The women’s team was less successful, falling 4-0 to the defending conference champions. Both games kicked off at 2 p.m. Sept. 26, with the men’s game taking place in Chicago and the women’s at the Xavier Soccer Complex.

Despite the scoreless regulation period and extra time, the men’s game had plenty of action. Xavier fired more shots than the Blue Demons (1-7, 0-1 Big East), winning that battle 13-8. Six of Xavier’s shots were on target, whereas only four of DePaul’s required a save.

Sophomore defender Corey Brown picked up a yellow card in the 67th minute, the Musketeers’ seventh of the season. Each team squandered a potential golden goal in the first period of overtime, as redshirt junior midfielder Majed Osman had his shot saved by DePaul senior keeper and Cincinnati native Mack Robinson.

Xavier redshirt senior goalie Dallas Jaye kept the game going with a save in the 100th minute on a shot fired by Blue Demon sophomore forward Phillipp Koenigstein. Latham’s golden goal came shortly after, off of an assist from sophomore midfielder Josh Grant. It was Latham’s fourth career goal and his second of the season.

While the men won a hard-fought battle at DePaul (7-2-2, 1-0 Big East), the women’s team struggled through a home game against the Blue Demons. The Musketeers were out-shot 27-3 by the visitors, as only one of Xavier’s attempts was on goal.

Freshman forward Franny Cerny registered two goals for the Blue Demons, with senior forward Elise Wyatt and sophomore reserve forward Jessie Schmidt each adding another. The 44th minute goal was Wyatt’s seventh of the season, good for third place among the Big East leaders. Sophomore forward Kenadie Carlson was the only Musketeer with a shot-on-goal.

The men’s team returns for a two-game home-stand starting at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 against Georgetown. The women will follow suite, and face the Hoyas at 1 p.m. the following afternoon.