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Huskies comeback efforts come up short in thrilling 6-4 quarterfinal loss to St. FX
Posted: Nov 02, 2022

Huskies comeback efforts come up short in thrilling 6-4 quarterfinal loss to St. FX

The Saint Mary's Huskies Women's Soccer team had a remarkable comeback, scoring three straight second-half goals to send the match into extra time, but came up short in a thrilling 6-4 quarterfinal loss to the St. FX X-Women in Wolfville, N.S.

The Huskies, appearing in the AUS Playoffs for the first time since 2018, found themselves in a tough matchup against an experience St. FX squad ranked #10 in U SPORTS.

The X-Women got off to an early start just over two minutes into the match, as forward Amanda Smith (Ottawa, ON) played a well paced throughball to forward Hannah Yantha (Cambridge, ON), who one-timed it past Huskies goalkeeper Grace Morrison (Halifax, NS), to give the X-Women an early 1-0 lead.

The Huskies didn't back down, as over the next three minutes they had a pair of good scoring opportunities, with quality shots coming from defender Alexandra Campbell (Vancouver, BC) and Allie Martin (Halifax, NS), the latter of which was saved by X-Women goalkeeper Jordyn Pratt (Calgary, AB).

Saint Mary's persistence would pay off in the 16th minute, as Campbell played a high cross into the box, which bounced over a group of players and directly onto to the foot of forward Virginia Boone (Halifax, NS), who volleyed it past Pratt to tie the match at 1-1.

The X-Women regained the lead in the 33rd minute, as midfielder Talia Morin (Ottawa, ON) played a free kick into the box, which found the foot of the dangerous Amanda Smith who scored to give St. FX a 2-1 lead, which would go down as the score at half.

Saint Mary's outshot the X-Women 7-5 in the first half, but Pratt was solid with 3 saves for the X-Women.

St. FX started the second half in similar fashion to the first, as forward Aidan Miller (Chilliwack, BC) scored just three minutes into the half to extend the X-Women lead to 3-1. Just over seven minutes later, the X-Women extended the lead again as Amanda Smith scored her second of the game in the 55th minute.

Facing a 4-1 deficit, Saint Mary's needed a spark, and quickly received one when defender Madison Ganong (Riverview, NB) played a long ball into the X-Women box, which was directed toward goal by Anelise Karakostas (Victoria, BC), before Martin directed it into goal to cut the lead to 4-2 in the 58th minute.

Moments later, the X-Women looked to strike back as midfielder Meghan Cole (Moncton, NB) had a partial breakaway, but Morrison made an outstanding one-handed save to keep the lead within two. Just over three minutes later, Morrison made another diving save on Cole.

Those saves would prove crucial, as Martin struck again in the 72nd minute, scoring a rare 'Olimpico' goal directly off of a corner kick to cut the X-Women lead to 4-3.

Saint Mary's kept the pressure on, but time was running out on their comeback effort. In the 85th minute, the Huskies were awarded a free kick directly at centre field. All-Star defender Madlyn Blinn (Lower Sackville, NS), thumped the ball into the X-Women box, where it found the head head of fellow All-Star Karakostas, who directed it past Pratt to tie the match at 4-4, and send the game into extra time.

A back-and-forth battle for 90 minutes slowed down in favour of the X-Women in the overtime periods. As the first 15 minute period was coming to a close, X-Women forward Lauren Seamone (New Germany, NS) scored to give her team a 5-4 lead.

With the Huskies scrambling to come back, X-Women midfielder Brynn Jurus (Ancaster, Ont.) scored the second overtime goal just over two minutes into the second overtime period to guarantee the 6-4 win.

X-Women forward Amanda Smith was named Subway Player of the Game with a two goal, two assist performance.

"It was a crazy game. We didn't expect it to go so back and forth, but it was awesome to get the win. It was great to see everyone get some goals. It was an entertaining quarterfinals for sure," said Smith following the game.

Huskies midfielder Anelise Karakostas was named Subway Player of the Game for the Huskies with a goal and an assist, while teammates Allie Martin (two goals) and Alexandra Campbell (two assists) also recorded multi-point games.

Over 120 minutes, STFX's Jordyn Pratt made eight saves off of 12 shots on goal, while on the other end, Keeper Grace Morrison posted seven saves on 13 shots.

The X-Women will move on to the AUS semifinals to face Cape Breton tomorrow at 3:00 pm. Both teams picked up a win in two regular season game meetings between the Capers and X-Women.

Recap by Allan April / SMU Huskies Athletics
Photos by Peter Oleskevich / Acadia Athletics