X-Women defeat Huskies 48-7

HALIFAX, NS – The St. Francis Xavier X-Women defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 48-7 in AUS rugby action on Friday night at Huskies Stadium in Halifax.

The X-Women would open the scoring as a kick was recovered by fullback Katie Douglas (Charlottetown, PEI) who dove in for a try. Centre Emily Dodge (Fall River, NS) converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead, 10 minutes into the action.

The Huskies and X-Women battled for possession, with both teams making some nice drives down the pitch, but neither able to score until the 26 minutes mark, when X-Women 2^nd Row Akwaima Akpan (Halifax, NS) stripped a Huskies player and sprinted 50+ yards for the try, to put StFX ahead 12-0.

A familiar face would score the next try for the X-Women, as former Huskies prop Brianna Willis (Lake Loon, NS) was able to plunge across the touchline from a close range for the try, with Dodge hitting the conversion to extend their lead to 19-0.

STFX would add on to the lead just before halftime, with Katie Douglas making a great run for her second try of the day, with another Dodge conversion putting the visitors up 26-0 heading into the half.

It was more of the same in the second half, as the X-Women scored two early tries from Katherine Culligan (Halifax, NS) and Brianna Willis with her second.

The Huskies were able to get on the scoreboard in the 58^th minute, as after a quality run from prop Devyn Di Nardo (Toronto, ON), prop Meagan Dunn (Halifax, NS) plunged it in for a try, with Lauren Maye (Lower Sackville, NS) hitting the conversion to cut the lead to 38-7.

The X-Women would add on two more tries by Katie Murphy (Millville, PEI) and the second of the night from Katherine Culligan, and were able to win the match by a final score of 48-7.

Katie Douglas was named Player of the Game for the X-Women, while Meagan Dunn was named Player of the Game for the Huskies.

The X-Women win improves their record to 4-0-1 on the season. They'll play an exhibition game in Quebec vs. Laval Rouge-et-Or this Monday, before hosting the UPEI Panthers at home for their regular season finale, Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. in Antigonish, NS.

The Huskies loss drops their record to 0-5 on the campaign. They'll finish the season on the road against the Acadia Axewomen, Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. in Wolfville, NS.

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Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary's Huskies Athletics

SCORING SUMMARY:
SMU 0-7: 7
ACA 26-22: 48 

First half:
STFX Katie Douglas try (Emily Dodge convert) 10^th minute
STFX Akwaima Akpan try 26^th minute
STFX Brianna Willis try (Emily Dodge convert) 32^nd minute
STFX Katie Douglas try (Emily Dodge convert) 36^th minute 

Second Half:
STFX Katherine Culligan try 42^nd minute
STFX Brianna Willis try (Emily Dodge convert) 49^th minute
SMU Meagan Dunn try (Lauren Maye convert) 58^th minute
STFX Katie Murphy try 69^th minute
STFX Katherine Culligan try 74^th minute 

Players of the Game:
SMU: Meagan Dunn (Halifax, NS)
STFX: Katie Douglas (Charlottetown, PEI) 

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