Axewomen open season with big win against Huskies

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Axewomen rugby team opened the AUS regular season a day early with a big win over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies.

The 109-5 win over the Huskies comes a day earlier than scheduled since the weather this Saturday may be unpredictable due to the remnants of Hurricane Dorian expected to hit the shores of Nova Scotia mid-afternoon.

Acadia scored on their first touch of the ball when Keisha Kane kicked off what would be 15 unanswered tries by the Axewomen.

Kane would score her second at the 25 minute mark. Tori Hogan scored a team-high three tries, while Annie Kennedy converted six tries and add a try of her own. Claire Fioretti converted three tries.

"I think we can learn a lot from this. We know what we can do when we have the ball, but I think we really need to work on our defense and really working into our new structure for the new players coming in," pointed out Subway Player of the Game Kia Sawler who had one try late in the game.

Despite the lopsided score, head coach Matt Durant saw the game as an opportunity to perfect the things that the Axewomen do.

"One of the things we stressed for years is it doesn't matter who we play against and how good they are, we just need to stick with our game plan, do the things as close to perfect as we can and know what we have to do to win. So we did that. There are always things you can pick out that need to be worked on and we'll work on that next week," said Durant.

Saint Mary's finally answered the door with an unconverted try by Julia Naugler.

The Axewomen host UPEI next Saturday at 2:00 pm, while the Huskies take on defending AUS and U SPORTS Champions StFX in Antigonish next Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Scoring Summary
Min        Team     Player                                                                                Score
1             ACA       KEISHA KANE                                                                   5-0
5             ACA       TORI HOGAN                                                                    10-0
11           ACA       KAT CURRAIN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY                      17-0
14           ACA       AMANDA JARDINE                                                             22-0
18           ACA       TORI HOGAN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY                       29-0
25           ACA       KEISHA KANE                                                                   41-0
29           ACA       NICOLE PAHL Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY                       48-0
35           ACA       BAILEY DEMBECKI                                                             53-0
38           ACA       EMMA PFLEIDERIER Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY              60-0
43           ACA       ANNIE KENNEDY Converted ANNIE KENNEDY                       67-0
46           ACA       TORI HOGAN Converted by ANNIE KENNEDY                        74-0
58           ACA       KATIA DONDI Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI                      81-0
62           ACA       KIA SAWLER Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI                        88-0
67           ACA       SOPHIE PICKARD Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI                 95-0
70           ACA       NATASHA WOTTON Converted by HALEY MACMILLIAN           102-0
73           SMU      JULIA NAUGHLER                                                                102-5
77           ACA       MONIQUE COFFEY Converted by CLAIRE FIORETTI                109-5