Veteran Amanda Smith leads X-Women to a 3-1 road victory over rival Capers

SYDNEY – The Cape Breton University (CBU) Capers (2-1-0) dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to the visiting STFX X-Women (3-0-0) in AUS action at Ness Timmons Field.

The White and Blue thought they had tallied in the 10^th minute, but the goal was wiped away. CBU's freshman keeper Ellie Lancaster (Fall River, NS) made a stellar initial save off Brynn Jurus (Ancaster, ON), who grabbed her rebound and fed Hannah Yantha (Cambridge, ON), but she was deemed to be offside when she poked the ball into the net.

After STFX held an edge for the first 15 minutes or so, the play evened out – with both sides showing tremendous patience while battling the sweltering heat.

In the 26^th minute, Smith (Ottawa, ON) got free for a strike – from the just outside the box – but Lancaster lunged to her right to deflect the ball out to touch.

Ten minutes later, from much further out, Smith tested the first-year backstop, who easily corralled the strike.

The Capers answered with a couple of chances later in the opening half, including a corner kick during extra time, but keeper Christina Gentile (Laval, QC) remained relatively untested for the X-Women.

The sides were scoreless heading to the locker room.

In the second half, after Leah Disipio (Ottawa, ON) made a couple of dangerous runs, the X-Women opened the scoring on a sensational individual effort from Smith in the 47^th minute. After making a great run into the box, and then shedding a Caper defender, the White and Blue standout ripped a blast off the right hand of Lancaster that deflected underneath the cross bar to make it 1-0.

Less than two minutes later, in the 49^th minute, Aidan Miller (Chilliwack, BC) raced into the box and pick up a loose ball, one that she chipped behind a charging Lancaster to double the STFX advantage.

With her second marker – on a penalty kick in the 51^st minute – Smith stretched the X-Women's edge to 3-0. It was the White and Blue's third goal in less than four minutes.

In the 59^th minute, the Capers got on the scoreboard when Charly Mitchell (Spruce Grove, AB) headed home a free kick from Amy-Anne Ndiaye to make it 3-1.

With CBU trying to rally, the visitors tightened their defense and gave few scoring opportunities; the best one coming in the 68^th minute when Ally Rowe (Kitchener, ON) directed a cross from Lauren Rowe (Conception Bay South, NL), but Gentile made a spectacular stop to maintain the two-goal advantage.

Mitchell was the player of the match for the Capers, while Smith received the nod for the USPORTS #10-ranked X-Women.

STFX will return to action tomorrow (Sunday, Sept. 10), when they host the Saint Mary's Huskies in a 1 p.m. ADT start at STFX Stadium.

CBU will be back on the pitch on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 1 p.m. ADT, when they travel to Halifax to face the Dalhousie Tigers at Wickwire Field.

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 Recap courtesy Corey LeBlanc