St. FX too much to handle for Panthers in 3-0 win

By Thomas Becker

The St. FX X-Men scored three first-half goals and never let up, as they shutout the UPEI Panthers 3-0 Sunday afternoon. 

Samuel Barrowcliffe (Princeton, ON) was at the forefront of all the action as the rookie forward scored once and assisted on the other two goals.

"All the credit goes to my teammates. They found me on the runs and they just put me in a position to do what I do," said Barrowcliffe, who was named the Subway Player of the Game. 

Barrowcliffe scored the game's opening goal in the 12th minute when a cross that was sent to the box ricocheted off several players before the freshman put it away. 

Barrowcliffe said that early goal set the tone for the rest of the contest. 

"The game plan was to score early and kill the Panthers' momentum."

About eight minutes later, Barrowcliffe raced down the field and fired a pass across his body to Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) who connected on a beautiful header that goalkeeper Evan Couturier (Lower Coverdale, NB) couldn't get to. 

The X-Men (4-0) would strike again in the 29th minute when Logan Rieck (Cambridge, ON) put away a rebound off Barrowcliffe's initial shot that Coutrier made a diving save on.

From there, St. FX clamped down defensively and didn't allow a single Panthers (0-3-1) scoring chance in the convincing 3-0 win. 

"We just stuck to the game plan," Barrowcliffe said. "We went up three goals pretty early and we wanted to make sure we didn't let it slip in the second half. We just kept the levels high, kept the intensity high and closed out the win." 

The Panthers travel to Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers next Sunday, while St. FX welcomes Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus for a Saturday afternoon tilt.

Photo Credit: Janessa Hogan