St. F.X., Acadia in rugby final again

What has become an annual tradition, St. Francis Xavier and Acadia will meet in the Atlantic university women's rugby final.

From 2010 to 2019, the X-women and Axewomen have played in the AUS championship. Not even a lost 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic could disrupt that streak.

The X-women earned their spot in the final following a 35-15 victory over the UPEI Panthers in the conference semifinal Saturday at St. F.X. Stadium. They will travel to Wolfville to play the No. 1 Axewomen in the final on Oct. 31. Katherine Culligan paced St. F.X. with a pair of tries on Saturday.

“(We) came into the match after a lot of drive throughout the week in practice,” Culligan said in a news release.

“We are all really proud of how we played as a team in today's game. I'm just happy to be playing with the team, it was such a great feeling.”

Danielle Franada had a try and five conversions for the X-women, who led 14-8 at the half. Annie Mcmullon and Maddy Ross had the other majors. Charlotte Branchflower, with a try and a penalty kick, and Emily Duffy (try) answered for the Panthers.

With both AUS finalists guaranteed spots in the U Sports championship, Acadia and St. F.X. have punched their tickets to nationals, Nov. 10-14 in Kingston, Ont.

FOOTBALL

A 24-point second quarter pulled St. F.X. from a 14-0 deficit after 15 minutes to a decisive 48-21 victory over the Bishop's Gaiters in the lone

AUS football game Saturday.

At Lennoxville, Que., firstyear quarterback Silas Fagnan completed 25 of 26 passes for 321 passes and four touchdowns, one to his brother Isaac Fagnan. The St. F.X. pivot also scored on a quarterback sneak in the second quarter.

Benoit Cormier hauled in three TD passes and gained 133 yards for the first-place X-men (4-0). Running back Louisphilippe Gregoire had 20 carries for 100 yards and scored on a one-yard dash 8:27 into the game for the Gaiters (2-3).

HOCKEY

A valiant effort by the Dalhousie Tigers fell short against the nation's top team.

Connor Hicks made 41 saves in the goal in a 2-1 setback to the UNB Reds at the Halifax Forum on Saturday night.

Tyler Boland and Samuel Dove-mcfalls scored in the first period for the U Sports

No. 1 Reds (6-0).

Logan Johnston tallied 11:47 of the third for the Tigers (3-3).

Aigles Bleus 4, X-men 2: At Antigonish, Samuel Guilbault's scored 28 seconds apart as Moncton tallied four straight in the third period to beat St. F.X.

Panthers 3, Axemen 0: At Charlottetown, Jonah Capriotti turned aside all 21 shots he faced as UPEI blanked Acadia.

In women's hockey Sunday at Antigonish, Anna Maccara tallied twice and Tyra Meropoulis had a goal and two assists as St. F.X. clipped the St. Thomas Tommies 6-0.

Each team was coming off victories on Saturday. The X-women doubled Moncton 6-3 while the Tommies topped Mount Allison 5-0.

Elsewhere on Saturday, two goals by Siobhan Birch paced the Saint Mary's Huskies to a 6-2 win over UPEI at the Dauphinee Centre.

SOCCER

The Cape Breton Capers have company atop the AUS women's soccer standings.

Cape Breton (7-0-3) played to a 0-0 draw with Dalhousie on Sunday, earning a point.

But the Memorial Seahawks won their fifth in a row, a 2-0 decision at Acadia, to join the Capers in first place with two games remaining in the regular season schedule.

CBU keeper Haley Kardas, coming off a shared shutout with Kelsie Neville in a 2-0 win over Mount Allison on Saturday, posted the shutout on Sunday. Annabel Gravely turned the trick for Dal (4-2-4).

At Wolfville, Holly O'neill and Sarah Jones each scored for MUN (8-2) and Sydney Walsh had the clean sheet. Acadia slips to 6-3-2, four points back of the co-leaders.

X-women 4, Mounties 1: At Antigonish, Emma Steen, Amanda Smith, Brynn Jurus and Talia Morin each scored for St. F.X. (6-4-1) in its win over Mount A (5-5-1).

Huskies 0, Panthers 0: At Huskies Stadium, Veronica Kozak turned aside 12 shots to preserve the scoreless draw for UPEI (1-5-5).

Soninka Nandha had the shutout for SMU (1-6-4).

In AUS men's soccer, Nick Aquino, Logan Rieck and Ziad Abdelrahman each scored and William Veinot posted the shutout as St. F.X. (8-2-1) maintained its hold on first place following a 3-0 shutout of winless Mount A (0-11).

The Mounties were coming off a 10-0 drubbing by Cape Breton on Saturday.

Charlie Waters had a goal and five assists and Kairo Coore and Cian Lynch each potted a pair of goals for the Capers.

Waters and Coore provided the firepower on Sunday in CBU'S 3-0 shutout of Dal.

Coore added two more goals — to give him a league-leading 13 — and Waters scored in penalty time. The Capers (6-13) moved into a second-place tie with SMU while the Tigers tumble to 4-3-3

Panthers 1, Huskies 1:

At Huskies Stadium, Adam Dunsworth scored in the 70th minute to help SMU (6-2-3) preserve a tie with UPEI (43-4).

Sea-hawks 4, Axemen 0:

At Wolfville, two first-period markers by Emmanuel Dolo led Memorial (5-4-1) to a victory over Acadia (1-9-1).