Thunder Bay, ON – The AUS champion StFX X-Women competed at the U SPORTS/Curling Canada national championship in Thunder Bay, Ont. this past weekend in an eight-team event hosted by Lakehead University.
Over the four-day round robin portion of the event the X-Women played to a 3-4 record, narrowly missing out on a playoff berth.
Despite finishing in a tie for fourth position with two other teams with an identical 3-4 record, the X-Women were eliminated from playoff competition in tie-breaking procedures and Lakehead took the final semifinal berth.
Other teams to advance to the playoff round were Alberta (7-0), Dalhousie (4-3) and Laurentian (4-3). Lakehead, StFX and UNB were all 3-4, with Regina (2-5) and Ryerson (2-5) rounding out the final standings.
Laurentian emerged as U SPORTS/Curling Canada champions with a 704 win over host Lakehead in the gold medal match. Alberta took bronze with a 9-2 win over Dalhousie.
In round robin play, the X-Women opened the championship on Saturday evening with an 8-2 loss to Ryerson. The Rams scored three points in the first end, added another in the second and held on for the win for the remainder of the match.
StFX won their first game of the competition on Sunday with a 7-4 victory over fellow AUS opponent UNB. Skip Emma Logan fell behind 4-2 after seven ends but rebounded with a pair in the eighth, then stole two points in the ninth, and a single in the 10th end for the win.
Later on the same evening the X-Women improved to 2-1 with a close 5-4 victory over Regina, picking up a key two points in the 10th end for the win.
In Draw 4 on Monday the X-Women suffered an 8-3 loss to Alberta. Up against world junior bronze medalist Kristen Streifel, the Pandas scored two points in the fifth end, followed by steals in the next two ends.
StFX rebounded with a 10-3 win over Dalhousie in the second game Monday night. The X-Women scored three points in both the seventh and eighth ends to seal the win and improve to a 3-2 record.
With the standings very tight in second through sixth places, the X-Women were faced with key games in the final draws on Tuesday. Against Lakehead, the match was tied 4-4 after six ends then the Thunderwolves took six points in the seventh to seal the 10-6 win.
In their final game against Laurentian, the X-Women fell 5-2. The Voyageurs took two points in both the third and fourth ends to take a 4-0 lead en route to the win.
Team members of the X-Women squad include skip Emma Logan, third Lauren MacFadyen, second Ashley Francis, lead Therese McCurdy and spare Sarah Snair. They are coached by Carolyn Rose.
Logan was honored with the R.W. Pugh Fiar Play Award for displaying the best sportsmanship of all curlers at the championship.