Huskies drop season opener to Axewomen
WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Axewomen rugby team opened the AUS regular season a day early with a big win over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies.
The 109-5 win over the Huskies comes a day earlier than scheduled since the weather this Saturday may be unpredictable due to the remnants of Hurricane Dorian expected to hit the shores of Nova Scotia mid-afternoon.
Acadia scored on their first touch of the ball when Keisha Kane kicked off what would be 15 unanswered tries by the Axewomen.
Kane would score her second at the 25 minute mark. Tori Hogan scored a team-high three tries, while Annie Kennedy converted six tries and add a try of her own. Claire Fioretti converted three tries.
"I think we can learn a lot from this. We know what we can do when we have the ball, but I think we really need to work on our defense and really working into our new structure for the new players coming in," pointed out Subway Player of the Game Kia Sawler who had one try late in the game.
Despite the lopsided score, head coach Matt Durant saw the game as an opportunity to perfect the things that the Axewomen do.
"One of the things we stressed for years is it doesn't matter who we play against and how good they are, we just need to stick with our game plan, do the things as close to perfect as we can and know what we have to do to win. So we did that. There are always things you can pick out that need to be worked on and we'll work on that next week," said Durant.
Saint Mary's finally answered the door with an unconverted try by Julia Naugler.
The Axewomen host UPEI next Saturday at 2:00 pm, while the Huskies take on defending AUS and U SPORTS Champions StFX in Antigonish next Saturday at 2:00 pm.
Scoring Summary
Min Team Player Score
1 ACA KEISHA KANE 5-0
5 ACA TORI HOGAN 10-0
11 ACA KAT CURRAIN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY 17-0
14 ACA AMANDA JARDINE 22-0
18 ACA TORI HOGAN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY 29-0
25 ACA KEISHA KANE 41-0
29 ACA NICOLE PAHL Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY 48-0
35 ACA BAILEY DEMBECKI 53-0
38 ACA EMMA PFLEIDERIER Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY 60-0
43 ACA ANNIE KENNEDY Converted ANNIE KENNEDY 67-0
46 ACA TORI HOGAN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY 74-0
58 ACA KATIA DONDI Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI 81-0
62 ACA KIA SAWLER Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI 88-0
67 ACA SOPHIE PICKARD Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI 95-0
70 ACA NATASHA WOTTON Converted by HALEY MACMILLIAN 102-0
73 SMU JULIA NAUGHLER 102-5
77 ACA MONIQUE COFFEY Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI 109-5
PHoto / recap from Acadia Communications