Antigonish, NS – The U SPORTS No. 8 ranked StFX X-Men secured a 5-0 win over the Mount Allison Mounties on a crisp autumn afternoon to cap a successful Homecoming weekend at StFX Stadium.
The X-Men took a 3-0 lead into the half on the strength of a Dan Hayfield (Exeter, UK) hat-trick, but the performance of Logan Harrington (Halifax, NS) set the tone for a dominant X-Men first half. His well-timed runs and ability with the ball at his feet led to X's dominance in possession. Harrington gave the Mount A defenders no time on the ball and forced errant passes or giveaways that led directly to StFX attacks.
Hayfield's first goal capitalized on a Mounties defensive breakdown for the first goal of the match. Off a goal kick, Tane Caubo (London, ENG) pressured the Mounties defender to make an ill-conceived back pass to the keeper. Hayfield disposed keeper Michael Butler (Nassau, BH) who could not control the ball, and then then quickly put the ball in the net.
StFX's second goal came as a result of Harrington's good work of sprinting down the field to put the Mounties under pressure and then gained possession for X. After a number of nice short passes Hayfield had the ball just inside the 18-yard box when he blasted his shot past Butler.
Hayfield's hat-trick goal came from a great pass by Jack Kennedy (Antigonish, NS). He put a perfect pass into the box that Tane Cabo (London, ENG) could easily have put his foot on. Wisely, he let the ball go under his raised foot and Hayfield was the welcome recipient.
The Mounties gave the X-Men a bit of a scare to start the second half when Will Fenton (Hammonds Plains, NS) fired a shot just wide of the X net. From then on, it was largely one-way traffic for the home side. Ziad Abdelrahaman (Toronto, ON) did a great job trying to win possession for his team and, on the occasions when he did get the ball, he gave the seasoned Josh Read (Bath, Eng) all he could handle.
StFX's fourth goal was scored by veteran striker, Tane Caubo. The scoring play resulted when Caubo initially won control of the ball for the X-Men off a Mounties throw-in. StFX's tight passing had the Mounties on the back foot and after good work by Ben Herringer (Calgary, AB), Blake Fenton (Halifax, NS) made a nice square pass to the edge of the six-yard box where Caubo one-timed his shot.
The X-Men continued to put the Mounties under pressure and the result was their fifth goal of the match. Jack Kennedy, who delivered a number of great passes into the box throughout the game, put in another perfectly weighted ball for an X player to be on the end of, unfortunately, for Mount Allison on this occasion, it was their own player.
StFX had numerous chances to extend their lead. The best chance went to Logan Harrington who fired his shot off the post and could not quite control the rebound to score what would have been a deserved goal for his afternoon's efforts.
Receiving player of the game honours for Mount Allison was centre back Cody Kroczynski (Regina, SK), while the Subway player of the game was StFX's Dan Hayfield.
The Mounties will return to AUS action on Friday, October 18th when they host UNB at 7:15 pm. StFX's next game comes on the road this Thursday, October 10th when they next travel to Moncton to face the Aigles-Bleus at 7:15 pm.
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Courtesy Bart Sears, StFX Sports Information