CIS No. 10 Axewomen stun defending national champs

The CIS No. 10 ranked Acadia Axewomen started the 2013 AUS season with a bang, stunning the CIS ranked No. 1 and defending national champion StFX X-Women 44-13 at Oland Stadium in Antigonish, N.S. in front of an orientation week crowd of over 400 spectators.

The Axewomen scored 27 unanswered points in the second half and shut down the X-Women offense, breaking an incredible 60-game AUS winning streak on the part of the X-Women.

The loss was only the second one in the 11 year team history for StFX, spanning AUS regular season and playoff competition. Their only other loss in league play dates back to October 16, 2004, a 15-11 loss to UPEI, also on their home turf. 

Axewomen head coach Matt Durant was impressed with his team's effort, commenting, "We had a game plan coming in, we knew that after being at nationals last year with a really young team that we would have the confidence to be able to step in and play against StFX. They are still a very, very talented team."

"Our girls did exactly what I asked them to," continues Durant. "Come up and tackle hard, take away space, and not let a talented StFX team be creative. We knew that we could score points, we just had to make sure that we could stop X from scoring a lot."

Stop the X-Women is exactly what they did in the second half. After building a 17-13 lead at half-time, the Axewomen scored 27 points to put the game out of reach of the CIS No. 1 X-Women.

Subway Player of the Game Rachel Chapman scored two tries for Acadia, including their first one of the game in the 14th minute. The second year center answered a StFX try scored by winger Danielle Robb in the sixth minute of play to tie the game at five points apiece early on.

The two teams exchanged scoring opportunities for the remainder of the first half. X-Women sophomore center Tanisha Campbell scored for StFX in the 20th minute then veteran Axewomen fly half Emilie Chiasson replied with a try in the 27th minute, converting her own try to translate into a 12-10 edge for Acadia.

First half scoring rounded out with a penalty goal booted by second year StFX fly half Sabrina McDaid and Chapman's second try of the game for Acadia.

With 11 new faces in their 2013 starting line-up, the young X-Women showed they will need to quickly adjust to AUS play as the Axewomen came out with intensity in the second half, shutting down the defending national champions. 

Reigning AUS rookie of the year Maddie MacKenzie scored for Acadia in the 44th minute then No. 8 Janna Slevinsky broke through on a run to score the Axewomen's fifth try of the match in the 50th minute. Shannon White booted the conversion to give Acadia a 29-13 advantage, silencing the hometown blue and white fans.

The teams continued to exchange possession in a defensive battle. The X-Women had their best scoring chance in the second half when center Natalie Lesco had a long run to set up the reigning AUS champions deep in the Axewomen zone. The X-Women continued to pressure the goal line but Acadia held them off then StFX turned the ball over as Acadia broke down the sideline on a long run, setting up MacKenzie for her second try of the game in the 65th minute.

Second year prop Riley Kitchin and third year scrum half Kate Armirault rounded out the scoring for the Axewomen as the X-Women were unable to fight their way back into the match.

Head coach Mike Cavanagh, the 2012 CIS coach of the year, commented "We have to give full credit to Acadia. They played for the whole 80 minutes and were much more polished then we were tonight. All the opportunities they got they finished, and we didn't finish very well."

"I thought we were in the game right up until half-time and even into the second half, but they had a little more depth than we did. "We are a young team and we didn't regroup very well, but full credit to Acadia for a very well-played game."

The X-Women (0-1) will need to quickly regroup as they head to Fredericton for a Sunday afternoon match against the St. Thomas Tommies . The Axewomen (1-0) will host the Sait Mary's Huskies Wednesday evening in Wolfville, N.S.

SCORING SUMMARY
ACA 17-27: 44
StFX 13-0: 13

First half
StFX – Danielle Robb try, 6th
ACA – Rachel Chapman try, 14th
StFX – Tanisha Campbell try, 20th
ACA – Emilie Chiasson try, (Emilie Chiasson convert), 27th
StFX – Sabrina McDaid penalty goal, 31st
ACA – Rachel Chapman try, 35th

Second half
ACA – Maddie MacKenzie try, 44th
ACA – Janna Slevinsky try, (Shannon White convert), 50th
ACA – Maddie MacKenzie try, 65th
ACA – Riley Kitchin try, 74th
ACA – Kate Amirault try, 80th

Subway Player of the Game:  ACA, Rachel Chapman

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