Antigonish, NS – After a 791-day hiatus from university competition, the STFX X-Women played a pair of pre-season exhibition games in the middle of their 2021 training camp.
Wednesday evening in Halifax earned a decisive 9-0 victory over King's College who play in the CCAA conference. Goal scorers for STFX were Hailey Burk and Hannah Yantha each with two, and Amanda Smith, Brynn Jurus, Natasha Chonacki with single markers. There was also an own goal in the game as X-Women keepers Christina Gentile and Jordyn Pratt shared the shutout duties in net.
The following day at home at STFX Stadium in a wet and windy affair, the X-Women dropped a 4-2 decision to the UPEI Panthers.
First year forward Lauren Reid opened the scoring for STFX in the 31st minute but the Panthers came back as Tyffanie Bordage scored at the 35 minute mark as the 1-1 score held up until halftime.
The Panthers scored two unanswered goals from Mia Martell and Lauren Clark 63 and 64 minutes in to go up 3-1 over the home team.
Lauren Seamone closed the gap with an X goal in the 80th minute, but Clark tallied her second goal of the afternoon four minutes later to re-establish the two-goal lead for UPEI and the 4-2 score stuck til the final whistle.
STFX head coach Graham Kennedy noted that "The UPEI game allowed us to give new players and some returning players a chance to showcase their abilities against a strong opponent. The game and the result taught us some important lessons. It also helped us consider our final roster decisions and identify areas of tactical focus for the next week."
The X-Women will resume training camp over the weekend, along with playing in one final pre-season match on Saturday afternoon in Sydney against the Cape Breton Capers.. Their first AUS regular season game will be against the same UPEI squad but this time on the Island as the Panthers will host in Charlottetown on Friday, Sept. 10th. Kick-off is 5:00 pm.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information