(ANTIGONISH, N.S.) The U SPORTS No. 4-ranked StFX X-Women are set to host the No. 7-ranked Acadia Axewomen Friday night at 6 p.m. in the 2018 Subway AUS Rugby Championship final game.
In last weekend's playoff semifinal, the Axewomen downed the UPEI Panthers 55-0 to advance to the final.
On the line are the Birks Memorial Trophy and the AUS championship banner. Both teams have secured a berth at the U SPORTS national championship being hosted Nov. 1-4 by Acadia in Wolfville, N.S.
The defending AUS champion X-Women finished the regular season undefeated (6-0) and in first place to secure the bye and hosting rights to the championship final.
The Acadia Axewomen posted a 4-2 record in the regular season, good for the second place in the conference standings and hosting rights to the AUS semifinal.
Their only losses of the season came at the hands of the X-Women. StFX earned a 36-17 win against Acadia Sept. 22 in Antigonish, N.S. But in their most recent meetup, an Oct. 14 game hosted by the Acadia, the X-Women narrowly escaped with their unblemished record intact, winning the game by just two points, 22-20.
The X-Women have claimed the AUS title the past two seasons. In 2016 they captured the U SPORTS national title. Last season, they were U SPORTS bronze medallists.
In 2015, the Acadia Axewomen ended StFX's 17-year AUS championship win streak, claiming the conference title with a 34-17 win over the juggernaut.
Acadia's Maddie MacKenzie was instrumental in the win, scoring three tries for the Axewomen, receiving Subway Player of the Game nods and being named the championship MVP.
MacKenzie returns to the pitch Friday, back playing in her final year of eligibility after hanging up her cleats in 2015. She'll be joined by 2018 AUS MVP Laura Pfleiderer, along with six other Axewomen named to this year's AUS all-star team—Valerie Wideski, Sarah Boudreau, Taryn McLachlan, Gillian Bergsma, Alysha Corrigan and Monique Coffey.
The StFX X-Women will be led by 2018 AUS all-star and last season's conference MVP Joanna Alphonso. The senior prop will be looking to finish out her fifth and final year with the X-Women with another championship win. Alphonso led StFX to victory in last season's AUS championship final, scoring four tries and being named player of the game and championship MVP.
She'll be joined by 2018 AUS all-stars Olivia DeMerchant, Alison Blanchard and Carleigh Walters.
An awards ceremony honouring this year's major award winners and all stars will precede the game. Both the pre-game ceremony and the championship final will be webcast live at www.AUStv.ca.
The AUS will have two berths in this year's national championship. The X-Women and Axewomen will both compete in the 2018 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championships Nov. 1-4 at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.