(GUELPH, ONT.) - The St. Francis Xavier X-Women exploded for 31 points in the second half, including the last 26 of the match, to beat the 2013 national champion Alberta Pandas 41-17 in the third game of the CIS women's rugby championship at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium, Friday morning.
It marked the second loss in as many days for the Pandas, who were defeated 22-19 by Western in Thursday's Pool A opener and are now eliminated from medal contention. StFX (1-0) and Western (1-0) face off Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for first place in their group and a spot in Sunday's Monilex Trophy final at 2 p.m.
A trio of AUS all-stars, including conference MVP Emma Taylor (Scotsburn, N.S.), Catharine MacKeigan (Toronto) and AUS top freshman Joanna Alphonso (Ajax, Ont.), scored two tries apiece for the winners, who were trailing 12-10 at halftime.
The final score is not indicative of how competitive this match was between the two perennial powers.
Taylor, who also plays on the X-Women's basketball team, opened the scoring with in the fifth minute but Alberta responded seven minutes later with a converted try from Julia Goss (Edmonton).
A tactical error by Pandas outside centre Amy Speers (Sturgeon County, Alta.) led to a MacKeigan's first try of the game in the 33rd minute but, once again, Alberta's response came quickly.
Two minutes after MacKeigan's score, StFX was slow to set up on defence, which allowed Amanda Smith (Sherwood Park, Alta.) to cross the goal line in the dying moments of the half.
Alberta was up 17-15 after the teams exchanged two more tries to open the second period, but the Atlantic champions took it from there.
Alphonso added a pair of late tries to expand the X-Women's advantage.
After the match, StFX head coach Mike Cavanagh said, "We knew we would have to use our forwards, because that is Alberta's strength. We got stronger as the match went on."
Alberta head coach Matt Parrish was proud of his team's effort despite the loss, saying "We are obviously disappointed with the result but we knew what to expect versus a tough StFX team. It was a physical battle up front but I am proud of the girls."
Player-of-the-game honours went to Taylor for STFX and Rebecca Fairbairn for Alberta.
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index
SCORING SUMMARY
StFX 10-31: 41
ALB 12-5: 17
First half
StFX – Emma Taylor try 5th minute (convert no good) - (StFX 5 - ALB 0)
ALB – Jules Goss try 12th (Rebecca Fairbairn conversion) - (StFX 5 - ALB 7)
StFX – Catharine MacKeigan try 33rd (conversion no good) – (StFX 10 - ALB 7)
ALB – Amanda Smith try 35th (conversion no good) – (StFX 10 - ALB 12)
Second half
StFX – Emma Taylor try 39th (conversion no good) – (StFX 15 - ALB 12)
ALB – Ashley Amson try 44th (conversion no good) – (StFX 15 - ALB 17)
StFX – Catharine MacKeigan try 50th (Sabrina McDaid conversion) – (StFX 22 - ALB 17)
StFX – Mia Huysmans try 58th (Sabrina McDaid conversion) – (StFX 29 - ALB 17)
StFX – Joanna Alphonso try 70th (Sabrina McDaid conversion) – (StFX 36 - ALB 17)
StFX – Joanna Alphonso try 70th (conversion no good) – (StFX 41 - ALB 17)
Players of the game
StFX: Emma Taylor
ALB: Rebecca Fairbairn
Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points
Source: University of Guelph Sports Information & CIS Communications