Busy weekend for Panthers

Panthers’ rugby, hockey, basketball, soccer, field hockey teams in action

Several UPEI Panthers’ sports teams hit their respective pitches Saturday and Sunday on several venues.

Following is a roundup:

Women’s rugby

UPEI (1-2) welcomes the juggernaut and defending national champ St. Francis Xavier XWomen (3-0) to town on Sunday. Game time is 2 p.m.

St. Francis Xavier has outscored opponents 252-14, including a 90-0 win over UPEI earlier this month.

UPEI is coming off a 43-14 win over Saint Mary’s last weekend.

Women’s basketball

The UPEI women’s team tips offs with the Holland College Hurricanes in an exhibition tilt Saturday, at 6 p.m., at Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside.

Hockey

The men’s hockey team is in the United States for exhibition games against Northeastern on Saturday (7 p.m.) and Boston University (7 p.m.).

The women’s team plays Western in Halifax, N.S., on Saturday at 7 p.m., and faces Saint Mary’s on Sunday in Halifax at 7 p.m.

Field hockey

UPEI hosts the second Atlantic University field hockey tournament of the season and plays Saturday versus UNB (1:20 p.m.), Dalhousie (4:50 p.m.) and Mount Allison (7 p.m.).

Soccer

The men’s and women’s soccer teams host Cape Breton University on Sunday. The Capers’ men (4-0-1) are nationally ranked and the Cape Breton women (5-0) are a powerhouse.

The UPEI men (3-3) play at 3:15 p.m., after the women (3-21), which are undefeated in four games, play at 1 p.m.

Graeme MacDonald, head coach of the women’s team, said his team is starting to blend and must be on their toes versus high-scoring CBU, which leads the Atlantic University Sport conference with 20 goals.

“Our team is starting to jell now. We are becoming an attacking threat while our goalkeeper and back-line have been fantastic over the last few games. We do have to improve how we start our games, giving up early goals has been an issue so far,” said MacDonald. “CBU has a very strong all-round team and have no problem scoring goals. We have to make sure we are defensively organized and have to match their speed of play and athleticism.”