X-Women rugby cruise to pre-season wins

Led by third-year winger Amanda Thornborough, who scored three second-half trys, the StFX X-Women cruised to a 55-14 win over the Concordia Stingers in CIS exhibition rugby action Sunday afternoon at Oland Stadium in Antigonish.

The defending AUS champion and 2011 CIS silver medalist X-Women led 22-0 at halftime over their counterparts from the RSEQ conference.

Along with Thornborough, Asya Bartley, Mia Huysmans, Tyson Beukeboom, Kelly Mitchell, Sara Kaljuvee and Lisa Gauthier scored single trys in a balanced blue-and-white attack.

Freshman Sabrina MacDavid converted four out of five second-half conversion attempts while Lauren Agnew added a first-half conversion.

Becky Lee accounted for the Stingers’ scoring with two trys and two conversions in the second half.

Sunday’s win came after an X-Women split-squad tallied four victories in exhibition play Saturday at the Truro Invitational tournament, including a 56-5 win over the same Stingers.

The blue and white also recorded wins over Saint Mary’s (56-0), Acadia (68-0) and the Nova Scotia senior women’s team (17-14).

The X-Women – AUS champions for 14 consecutive seasons – will open defense of their regular season title with a visit to Halifax. They will face the Saint Mary’s Huskies Sunday at 2 p.m. Their home opener is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 19th at 5:00 pm against St. Thomas.