St. Francis Xavier University Sports Teams Rippin' It Up Ol'School

X-Women defeat Laval, will play for CIS gold

November 1, 2008 (LETHBRIDGE, AB) - The StFX X-Women are heading for the CIS women's rugby championship game after a convincing 36-5 semi-final win over the Laval Rouge et Or Saturday afternoon in Lethbridge, AB.

"The girls played well today and we stuck in defensively for the full 80 minutes," commented X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh. "Our offense started to play and our best players were our best players out there today."

Asya Bartley and Lisa Gauthier each scored two tries a piece as the X-Women established a 19-0 lead at half-time. CIS Player of the Year Ghislaine Landry opened the scoring in the game for X with a try 8 minutes in, and Courtnay Malcolm made good on the convert. Three minutes later Lisa Gauthier increased the StFX lead with a try and Malcolm scored the conversion, building up an early 14-0 first half lead.

Kim Armstrong scored another try for the X-Women just before the end of a first half which saw the blue and white creating most of the pressure and dominating the play.

Gauthier scored her second try of the game early into the second half to increase the StFX lead to 24-0. Asya Bartley was next to cross the touch line for the X-Women as they continued their dominating play throughout the second half.

Bartley scored her second try of the game at the 13 minute mark after the X-Women moved the ball well down the field. Malcolm scored on the conversion to increase the StFX lead to 36-0.

Catherine Carrier of Laval broke the shut out in the final minutes of the game and scored the only try for the Rouge et Or, who will now face the Guelph Gryphons in the bronze medal game.

The X-Women move on to face the host and Western conference champion Lethbridge Pronghorns in the championship game Sunday at 2:00 pm (5:00 pm AST). The Pronghorns defeated Guelph 39-3 to earn their spot in the gold medal match. The gold medal game will feature a live audio webcast on SSN Canada www.ssncanada.ca, with a webcast video tape delay of the game.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's game, Coach Cavanagh commented, "Lethbridge is a good team, they are talented and well-coached and will be difficult to beat but we are up for the challenge."

The Pronghorns are the defending CIS champions while the X-Women were national champions in 2006 and are looking to bring the Monilex trophy back home.

X-Men march over Mounties, advance to Loney Bowl

November 1, 2008 (ANTIGONISH, NS) - The StFX X-Men scored early and often on their way to a 52-12 victory over the Mount Allison Mounties in the Atlantic University Sport semifinal game in front of 1,850 fans at Oland Stadium.

Steve Snyder led StFX, completing 11-of-16 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns. James Green also had 168 yards and touchdown on the ground for an X-Men offense that had 643 yards in total offense. Jeremy Marchand, Akeem Foster, Peter Giannikopolos and Pat Coristine added touchdowns for StFX.

The X-Men defense also shut down a potent Mount Allison offense by limiting them to 267 yards. Most importantly, game-breaker Gary Ross only had 102 all purpose yards and quarterback Kelly Hughes was limited to 156 yards passing.

Snyder was named the player of the game for StFX while Mounties safety Callan Exeter picked up that honour for Mount Allison with 10.5 tackles (nine solo, three assisted).

StFX now advances to the 2008 Loney Bowl to take on the first place Saint Mary's Huskies in Halifax next Saturday, November 8th. The Loney Bowl is scheduled for 1:00pm and will be broadcast live on EastLink Television.

St. Francis Xavier X-Men Basketball Preview

The 2008-09 edition of the StFX X-Men return a strong nucleus from a team that last season won 24 games and two tournaments but failed to win a playoff game for the second straight year.

Atlantic Conference first-team All-Star and league leading scorer (19.7 ppg) Tyler Richards, a 6’2” fifth year senior, will lead the way, joined by five juniors who formed the promising recruiting class of two years ago. They include mercurial 5’10” point guard Christian (T-Bear) Upshaw (14.7 ppg), versatile 6’3” swingman Dwayne Johnson (9.8 ppg), 6’6” athletic forward Terrence Taylor (7.0 ppg), 6’9” mobile center Alberto Rodriguez (3.0 ppg), and 5’9” sparkplug point Will Silver (4.3 ppg).

The X-Men will look to four players in their second year to provide depth: three-point threats Sean Nickel (46%) at 6’5” and 6’2” Blake Poritz (44%), along with 6’5” swingman Chad Warren and 5’10” backup point guard Rhett Thompson.

Forming this year’s recruiting class are four players from high schools from across the country. Close to home, 6’5”physical forward Jeremy Dunn comes from Horton HS in Wolfville, N.S., where he helped lead the Griffins to 64 straight victories and back to back Provincial titles. Coming from Citadel HS in Halifax, the provincial runners-up, is 6’2” combo guard Eamon Morrissy, co-MVP of the Metro high school league last season. From Notre Dame HS in Calgary, Alberta, comes 6’5” guard Jordan Hope, who brings athleticism and a fine shooting touch, while 6’1” Will Donkoh of Notre Dame in Ottawa combines defensive tenacity with some strong moves to the hoop.

Joining the veteran StFX coaching staff of Head Coach Steve Konchalski (34th year) and Associate Coach Doc Ryan is former X-Men standout Garry Gallimore, who played four summers with Canada’s National team program as well as playing professionally last season in Belgium.

St. Francis Xavier University Men's Basketball Site

http://www.xmenbasketball.com/

StFX wins nail-biter over Acadia in OT, 20-13

September 20, 2008 (ANTIGONISH, NS) - In Antigonish, NS, the StFX X-Men battled their way to a 20-13 win over the Acadia Axemen in double overtime in front of a crowd of 1,831 at Oland Stadium. It was the first overtime game in the CIS this season.

After a relatively uneventful game that saw both teams miss opportunities to score and punt 11 times each, Acadia kicker Mike Godfrey nailed a 51-yard field goal halfway through the fourth quarter to tie the game at 10.

Overtime is shootout style, with both teams getting equal possessions to score and starting at their opponent's 35-yard line. The teams would trade field goals in the first overtime session.

In the second OT, StFX got first possession and James Green ran for a well-earned 26-yard touchdown. Acadia was unable to answer, with quarterback Keith Lockwood getting intercepted by StFX's Nick Riva on third down to end the game.

StFX dominated in the running game, racking up 234 yards on the ground in comparison to Acadia's 36. Green had 169 of those yards and two touchdowns.

Both defenses wreaked havoc on the passing game with constant pressure on each quarterback. Acadia had four different players each record a sack, including Tom Labenski, who also had nine tackles for the Axemen.

Next Saturday, StFX (2-1) will travel to Mount Allison in hopes of spoiling the Mounties homecoming game, while Acadia (0-3) will look to get their first win of the season when they host the undefeated Saint Mary's Huskies.