Axewomen top Panthers 5-2 in season opener

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) – The Acadia Axewomen soccer team opened up the 2014 AUS regular season with a convincing 5-2 against the visiting UPEI Panthers.

UPEI stayed close in the first half but in the end a balanced effort from Acadia resulted in the Axewomen posting a win in their first regular season game.

Acadia started the game off strong with several opportunities but it was fourth-year striker Emilie Pelletier from UPEI who slid a shot past veteran keeper Caroline Wood only 15 minutes into the first half to open the scoring 1-0 in favour of UPEI.

With four minutes left in the half, the ball was fed past charging Panthers keeper Ashley McKenna and right to the foot of Michelle Pryde. Pryde tied the game up at one for the Axewomen barrelling a shot into an empty net.

While the game stayed close in the first half, Acadia heated up in the second. A pass from the Axewomen's Meghan Earle to teammate Jenna Blackburn saw Acadia claim the 2-1 advantage.

UPEI's third-year midfielder Jerika Gimpel quickly responded by sneaking the ball past Wood to tie the score at two.

Subway player of the game Meghan Earle scored two unanswered goals for the Axewomen. Earle raced down the right wing and placed the ball perfectly in the opposite corner resulting in Acadia's first lead of the night, 3-2.

With a Panther assessed a yellow card, Earle was granted a penalty shot which she sent rocketing into the lower right corner of the night. Up 4-2, Acadia rookie Jenna Howell put the game away, kicking off her AUS career with a goal in the 5-2 win.

Head coach Amit Batra was cautious when discussing the Axewomen's win. "A good start to the season. There is definitely a lot of positives to take from the win including a five-goal output," he said. "At the same time I don't think the score reflected the battle between the two teams. The score was tied at one at the half and I think UPEI is dangerous and it's early in the season and their first road trip and it's a tough situation."

"I have to give credit to our players for coming back after being down 1-0 early in the game," added Batra. "There is a lot to say for our resilience. We came out at halftime and fixed our offside problem from the first half and we hit our stride during a little spell that bounced the score to 5-2."

Lindsay Noonan was UPEI's Subway player of the game.

The Panthers will head home to face the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues on Sunday afternoon while Acadia will make the trip to Halifax to face the Dalhousie Tigers, also on Sunday.

Source: Ashley Hasler for Acadia Sports Information