Elbourne strikes pair in win over Axemen

Antigonish, NS - Sophomore midfielder Liam Elbourne (Halifax, NS) scored a pair of goals in just over two minutes early in the second half, as the StFX X-Men (3-2-2) handed the visiting Acadia Axemen (3-1-3) their first loss of the AUS regular season Sunday afternoon at Oland Stadium.

The unassisted markers came in the 46^th and 48^th minutes.

The win made it back-to-back shutouts for Thomas Pieroway (Conception Bay, NF) and the X-Men in less than 24 hours.

"We saw that we were in a tough spot coming into this weekend. We dropped some points we believe we should have had, but then we also took points off teams at the top of the table and ranked in the country," fifth-year senior midfielder and X-Men captain Randy Ribeiro (Cambridge, ON) said after Sunday's win, which came on the heels of a 2-0 road victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies the previous day.

"It shows that we can play with everyone in the league. When we came in this weekend, we knew that we had to step it up a little bit – not take anything for granted – and we put two performances together and came out with six points.

"It was a perfect weekend," he added.

The wins move the X-Men into a fifth-place tie with the defending conference champion UNB Varsity Reds, while the Axemen occupy fourth spot in the league standings.

In the 74^th minute, Ribeiro set-up fellow fifth-year senior midfielder Kareem Henry (Mississauga, ON) to cap-off the scoring.

Acadia outshot StFX 13-12.

Pieroway made eight saves for the win, while Dominik D'Antuono (Freiburg, Germany) turned aside five shots for the Axemen in the loss.

Acadia is back in action Friday, Oct. 16, at 7:15 p.m., when they host the Mount Allison Mounties in Wolfville.

StFX returns to the pitch on the same day and time, travelling to Sydney to face the Capers. Opening kick-off is set for 7:15 p.m.

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