Strong first half leads X-Women to quarterfinal victory over Huskies

(SYDNEY, N.S.) The fourth-seeded StFX X-Women defeated the fifth-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies 5-0 in the second quarterfinal of the 2018 Subway AUS Women's Soccer Championship Thursday afternoon at Cape Breton University.

The game started with a flurry of goals as the X-Women scored early and often. StFX scored markers in the fifth, 14^th, 20^th and 24^th minutes to go into half with a 4-0 lead.

Kelsey Ellis (Ottawa, Ont.) scored a pair of goals, while singles were added by Catherine Kennedy (Antigonish, N.S.) and Olivia Czipf (Thunder Bay, Ont.). Kennedy assisted on Ellis' first goal of the game then she netted the second X goal, connecting with Chloe Brennan (Brookside, N.S.).

Mercy Myles (Accra, Ghana) picked up an assist on Ellis' second goal just six minutes later and Ellis set up Czipf for StFX's fourth goal in 24 minutes as they took an early commanding lead over the Huskies.

Elise Brennan (Brookside, N.S.) rounded out the StFX scoring in the game with a penalty kick goal off a hand ball in the box eight minutes into the second half.

StFX keeper Emma Kuzmyk (Cookstown, Ont.) earned the clean sheet and the victory. Saint Mary's Keeper Kyanna Gilks (Halifax, N.S.) allowed four goals in the first half and Ashley Blank (Cole Harbour, N.S.) played the second half for the Huskies, allowing the lone goal.

For her two-goal effort, StFX's Kelsey Ellis earned the nod as Subway Player of the Game for her squad. Fiorella Morales (Bedford, N.S.) was named Player of the Game for Saint Mary's.

With the win, the X-Women will now face the second-seeded Acadia Axewomen on Friday at 11:30 a.m. in semifinal action. The U SPORTS no. 8-ranked Acadia squad posted a 10-1-1 record in the regular season with their sole loss coming to the U SPORTS no. 1 and AUS top-seeded Capers. 

The Axewomen and the X-Women met just once during the regular season on Sept. 30 in Antigonish, N.S. and the two teams battled to a scoreless draw.