Antigonish, NS - The Université de Moncton Aigles-Bleues and the StFX X-Women battled to a nil-nil draw Sunday afternoon.
The first half was a see-saw affair in which both teams exchanged chances. The ever-dangerous Catherine Dupuis (St-Mathias, QC) had the first chance of the match in the opening minutes. Dupuis, throughout the match, put the StFX defenders under pressure and the always assured Larissa White (Westphal, NS) had a harder than usual time in making her short passes to the X midfielders to start a counter-attack.
Shyanne Hedges had a strong game for the X-Women as she constantly found the ball at her feet in scoring areas, only to be foiled by steady Aigles-Bleues defending. Moncton keeper Chelsea Burnham (St-Jean, NB) was forced on numerous occasions to come off her line and nullify dangerous X-Women balls put into the 18-yard box.
The second half started with Moncton once again having the first chances on net. Natalie Fleming (Moncton, NB), sterling as centre-back, made a number of nice passes and reads throughout the game. In the opening minutes she disrupted an X attack and picked a perfect long ball through to Catherine Dupuis. Just minutes later substitute Julie Gaudet (Dieppe, NB) forced a great save by X rookie netminder, Alyssa Spridgeon (Whitby, ON).
StFX midfield maestro Mercy Myles (Accra, Ghana) was introduced at the half and, despite numerous chances, could not solve Burnham. Moncton's Celeste Gaudet (Fredericton, NB), decisive play in midfield kept Myles at bay. Gaudet's positioning meant she could receive the ball to make a nice pass or to be in the correct spot to make a challenge to break up StFX's attacks.
The final chance of the match went to X's Amanda Smith when she received a great ball in from Hannah Engdahl-Wawach (Cochrane, AB). Both teams rightly shared the spoils.
Celeste Gaudet earned player of the game status for Moncton, while StFX's Shyanne Hedges was the Subway Player of the Game.
Next up on the AUS schedule. The Aigles Bleues will host UPEI on Saturday afternoon, October 5th in Moncton. StFX will host Mount Allison next Sunday afternoon, October 6th for Homecoming weekend.
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Courtesy Bart Sears, StFX Sports Information