X-Women score in injury to eliminate Axewomen from AUS championship
ANTIGONISH, NS – The defending conference champion STFX X-Women – the sixth seed in the tournament – scored a dramatic 3-1 come-from-behind victory over the third seeded Acadia Axewomen in the second quarter-final match of the 2024 Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Women's Soccer Championship on Thursday evening at STFX Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 in stoppage time, the X-Women knotted the contest in thrilling fashion to force overtime. In the extra session, the White and Blue tallied single markers in each of the 15-minute halves to secure the victory.
In the dying seconds of the final of three minutes of injury time – veteran Brynn Jurus (Ancaster, ON) weaved her way through a couple of defenders, but her strike was blocked. Fortunately, it bounded to Lauren Reid, who wasted no time, deposited a low shot inside the goal post behind a diving Milena Ramirez (Wolfville, NS) to deadlocked the battle 1-1 and electrify the crowd.
In the ninth of the first 15-minute overtime stanza, off an X-Women corner kick that looked to be cleared from danger by the Axewomen, junior forward Aidan Miller (Chilliwack, BC) – the STFX player of the match – chested down the ball – from 25 yards out – and sent a laser beam game-winner inside the goal post to the right of Ramirez, who had no chance on the marker, to make it 2-1.
Late in the second overtime half, X-Women midfielder Meghan Cole (Moncton, NB), on her second opportunity during a scramble in the 18-yard box of Acadia, twisted a shot into the top left corner to provide insurance for the winners. Third-year defender Meghan Lineger (Comox, BC) collected an assist on the tally that made it 3-1.
In the first half, the initial scoring opportunity for either side came in the third minute, spurred by hard work from fifth-year defender, and conference first-team all-star, Mya Harnish (Lower Sackville, NS), who helped get the ball to Jamie Verhun (Calgary, AB), whose volley into the 18-yard box found the left-foot of Allie Kelly (Halifax, NS), another AUS first-teamer, who lofted a re-direction high and wide behind X-Women keeper Christina Gentile (Laval, QC).
In the eighth minute, Kelly and Riley Bonadie (Ottawa, ON) garnered chances in tight but they could not put the Axewomen – who were sharp and carried the play in the opening 10 minutes – on the scoreboard.
The X-Women started to make some noise offensively with Miller making a run down the wing, but her cross attempt deflected off an Acadia defender and out to touch. Off the subsequent throw-in, Miller regained possession and found Reid, a fifth-year forward, who was unable to get a hard shot away; her attempt trickling into the waiting hands of Ramirez.
Despite the early advantage for Acadia, STFX steadied and – by the midway point of the first half – garnered, to that point, a handful of the best scoring chances of the match in quick succession.
On the first threat, Ava Elgood (Almonte, ON) took a through ball, and got behind the Acadia 'D', but Ramirez got her fingertips on a hard strike and deflected it wide of the far post to keep it scoreless. A short time later, veteran defender Emma Steen (Stittsville, ON), the second-team conference all-star, angled a ball into the box that found the left foot of freshman Avery Rogers (Toronto, ON), but her volley sailed high and wide.
The final of the trio of chances to open the scoring for the host X-Women came when Steen feathered a through ball to Miller, but Ramirez soared to get her mitts on a high, hard strike.
In the 35th minute, Miller threatened for the White and Blue; she collected her own rebound off a blocked shot and knifed it by Ramirez, but wide of the goal post.
After a high energy and physical opening half, the teams were scoreless heading to the locker room. Both sides finished with a pair of shots on goal apiece, with the X-Women holding an 8-5 in shots.
Cue the dramatics
In the second half, the Axewomen came out firing, creating a corner kick chance in the opening seconds. Brenna Kennedy's (Fletcher's Lake, NS) boot found the head of fifth-year senior Lauren Jodrey (Bedford, NS) in the box, but her attempt went wide of the post behind Gentile.
Moments later, in the 47th minute, Jodrey opened the scoring when she tucked a free kick from 35 yards out under the cross bar beyond the outstretched hands of Gentile.
In the 60th minute, the Axewomen engineered a prime scoring chance, one sparked by a great run from Bonadie to keep the ball from rolling over the end line. She then gathered and made a nifty cross to Lauren Clarke (Dartmouth, NS) who chested a shot, but Steen blocked it for the X-Women to keep it 1-0.
With Acadia protecting the lead, STFX came up with a flurry to knot the contest in the 68th minute. Reid got her head on a ball in the box from junior Rylin Matheson (Dartmouth, NS), but Harnish cleared the ball from harm's way to maintain the Axewomen's one-goal edge.
In the 72nd minute, freshman midfielder Rachel Kibble (Dartmouth, NS) took a feed – from about 25 yards away – and blistered a strike that bested Gentile, but it rang off the cross bar.
The X-Women threatened in the 80th minute, with Cheyenne Bower (London, ON) – a second-team all-star this season – struck a free kick from 30 yards away; one that made it to the far goal post, but one of her teammates was called on an offside. Moments later, Ramirez – who recorded the shutout for Acadia – turned away an attempt from Bower.
Just before she engineered the play that led to the spectacular equalizer, in the final minutes of regulation, Jurus left-footed a ball that caught senior midfielder Caitlin Crichton (Ottawa, ON), a first-team all-star, off guard, when it wasn't headed by the stalwart Jodrey. The pass deflected off Crichton and harmlessly into the arms of Ramirez. Not long after, in the 89th minute, Bower – from in tight and at a sharp angle – laced a blast that the Acadia keeper smartly stopped and controlled the rebound.
STFX finished with 11 shots on goal, compared to five for Acadia.
With the loss, the season has ended for the Axewomen, while the X-Women will move on to face the UNB Reds (#2) in semi-final action on Friday, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m. ADT, at STFX Stadium.
The winner of that semi-final match will play for the 2024 AUS banner on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 1 p.m. ADT, at STFX Stadium.
Recap courtesy Corey LeBlanc