Axewomen rugby improve to 2-0 with 77-7 win over Huskies
The Saint Mary’s Huskies dropped their home opener 77-7 Sept. 17 to the Acadia Axewomen in Atlantic University Sport rugby action.
In a game marred by handling errors, the AUS conference runners-up last season sprinted out to a 34-7 halftime lead before second-half scores of 49-7, 54-7, and the final try at 77-7.
Acadia wasted little time getting on the board when second year prop Emma Pfleiderer rumbled over the try line to give Acadia an early 5-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
Natasha Johnson (2), Annie Kennedy, Tamara Dondi and Danielle Wisen also all scored in the first half, while SMU scored a lone converted try from Julie Naugler (converted by Elisn Redshaw) for a 34-7 halftime score.
Acadia quickly got to work in the second half. Laura Pfleiderer, Sophie Pickard and Tamara Dondi all scored for Acadia within the first 10 minutes of the frame.
Harley Tucker and Monique Coffey added second half trys after several hard runs that had the Huskies scrambling to reset their defence. Tamara Dondi, Danielle Wisen and Laura Pfleiderer scored second try’s in the second half and Laura Pfleiderer added four second half conversions.
Despite the lopsided score, Acadia head coach Matthew Durant said the team could be playing better.
“It is a difficult thing to be critical when you win by 70 points, but we did a lot of little things poorly today,” said Durant. “Encouragingly, our team recognizes how poor we were at times and they are as frustrated as the coaching staff. I was really pleased with some of the performances today, but some people certainly didn’t put in their best efforts. We will need to be better going forward.”
With the win, the Axewomen improve to 2-0 and sit tied atop the AUS standings with the STFX X-women, last year’s national champions. The two leaders will face off when Acadia visits STFX Sept. 23 at 2 p.m.