Defending national champs record pre-season victory

The defending CIS champion X-Women rugby team opened the 2013 season on a winning note, playing to a 29-0 victory over the McGill Martlets in pre-season exhibition action at StFX Oland Stadium. The game was delayed one hour due to a thunder and lightning storm.

Both teams needed the opening few minutes to get their bearings and keep their hands on the ball due to the wet conditions. They exchanged ball possession several times in the first ten minutes of the game.

StFX had three early penalty calls against them but then settled in to the game action. Freshman center Beckie Clark (Summerside, PE) got the X-Women on the board by scoring the first try of the game 20 minutes in. After a couple good passes Clark found a seam in the Martlets defense and broke through to the goal line.

Second year fly half Sabrina McDaid (Scarborough, ON) made good on the ensuing conversion to give the X-Women an early 7-0 lead.

McGill quickly moved the ball up the field and were pressuring deep in the StFX zone but were held back from scoring.

Veteran fifth year prop Olivia DeMerchant (Woodstock, NB) increased the StFX lead with a try in the 32nd minute, while McDaid converted her second ball for a 14-0 score.

Second year winger Lauren Agnew (Stittsville, ON) had a long run for the X-Women late in the first half, setting them up with good field position, but the Martlet defense held strong not allowing StFX to score and the 14-0 lead carried through to half-time.

The 15-time consecutive AUS champion X-Women quickly increased their lead as freshman prop Tasha McKenzie (Indian Brook, NS) had a good rush early on in the second half to set up StFX's third try of the game. Fourth year centre Jayme Ward (Kingston, ON) punched the ball across the goal line in the 42nd minute and McDaid scored her third conversion of the game for a 21-0 X lead.

The Martlets had one of their best scoring chances three minutes later as they were pressuring deep inside the StFX zone, but the blue and white defense pushed them back. McGill went on consecutive runs but were still unable to score.

McDaid made it 24-0 for StFX with a penalty goal in the 61st minute as she collected nine total points on the afternoon.

Fourth year flanker Allie Munroe (Truro, NS) rounded out the StFX scoring with a late try in the 78th minute. 

Despite the win, X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh believes there are things to work on, commenting, "Offensively all the pressure we put on them, we put on ourselves. We threw the ball away, our passing wasn't very good, our decision making wasn't very good and our communication wasn't very good. When all three of those things aren't going right you're not going to be scoring tries as you should be."

He continued, "Defensively we played very strong. McGill scored 22 points against us last year with a more senior team than what we had, so it was nice that we shut them down this year."

"All in all, the game was good. For the majority of the game out of our 15 starters, we had 10 first or second year players so I'm happy with the result. We're young but we are only going to get better."

The game was the first of a two-game series as part of the McEwan Cup, an annual women's rugby exhibition game played between StFX and McGill which was started in 2004. It is played to honor the McEwen family of Montreal who generously donated land for McGill athletics playing fields. This year the two teams are playing a home-and-home series to determine the winner of the Cup with the team scoring the most total points being named the winner. Game two will take place October 10th in Montreal.

On Saturday, the X-Women played in the Truro Invitational tournament, competing in five shortened games with split squads in exhibition action. They recorded five victories with scores of 46-0 over Saint Mary's, 69-0 over Dalhousie, 76-0 over Acadia, 61-0 over PEI and 17-12 over McGill.

StFX begins AUS regular season competition next weekend as they host the Acadia Axewomen Friday night, September 6th at 7:00 pm.

SCORING SUMMARY
StFX 14-15: 29
McGILL 0-0: 0

First half
StFX – Beckie Clark try, (Sabrina McDaid convert), 20th
StFX – Olivia DeMerchant try, (Sabrina McDaid convert), 32nd 

Second half
StFX – Jayme Ward try (Sabrina McDaid convert), 42nd
StFX – Sabrina McDaid penalty goal, 61st
StFX – Allie Munroe try, 78th 

Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points