St. FX edges Panthers 7-5

Antigonish, NS—The STFX X-Women held on for a close 7-5 victory over the U SPORTS No. 7 ranked UPEI Panthers Saturday afternoon at STFX Stadium in a closely contested rugby match between two of the top teams in the AUS conference.  

X-Women freshman winger Madelyn Weisshaar (Wilcox, SK) scored a try 19 minutes into the game and Katie Murphy (Millville, PE) kicked the conversion for the only scoring for the home team. 

The Panthers started off strong but the X-Women gained their footing and struck first as the lone first half scoring would carry them to victory. 

Subway Player of the Game Skye Koyote (Duncan, BC), STFX's No. 8 player, commented afterwards that, "I think our team played amazing, we held up strong on defense the whole game."  

"We definitely left some points on the field that we could have made, but we are proud of ourselves in what was a massive defense game for us. I'm so proud of all my teammates, we left our hearts on the field and that's all we can really do."  

The 7-0 score held until halftime. 

The X-Women pressured to score 12 minutes into the second half and were five yards out from the try line, but the Panthers defense held strong. 

The game continued as a defensive battle until UPEI's Charlotte Branchflower (Halifax, NS) broke through late in the game with three minutes to play, gaining critical field position. That helped set up a try from prop Emily Duffy (Saint John, NB) in the final minute of play.  

The convert attempt from a tough angle by Fran MacWilliam (Mill River East, PE) was unsuccessful as the X-Women hung on for the close 7-5 win. 

Panthers head coach James Voye thought his team played a tough game, noting "They were resilient throughout the whole game. It was a little challenging with so much rugby being played in the middle of the pitch. They scored a try that was a little closer to the uprights in the first half and we scored one a little further away in the second half and didn't convert." 

Voye continued, "I felt our girls performed pretty well and we knew it was going to be challenge coming here and beating X at home after winning the game against them in PEI, but it's still the best result we've had here in years so lots of positives but lots to work on too." 

UPEI fly half Agustina Cohen (Halifax, NS) was the Player of the Game for the Panthers. 

With the win the X-Women improve to 2-1 on the season and now sit tied for first place with the Panthers (2-1). STFX will next see action on Wednesday, October 5th when they travel to Halifax to take on Saint Mary's.  

UPEI will travel to Wolfville, N.S. for a 7:00 pm game Friday night, October 7th against Acadia.

RECAP BY: Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information / PHOTOS BY: Mya Slawter