Another Women D1A Final Thriller as Lindenwood Edges Life
Another Women D1A Final Thriller as Lindenwood Edges Life
Lindenwood regained the women's D1A title they lost last year, taking what was, once again, a tight final against Life 19-15.
This was the seventh straight D1A final between these two teams. Played at Stanford University, it may be the last as Lindenwood is now an NCAA varsity team and is expected to play a NIRA schedule next year.
Defending MA Sorensen Award-winner and a finalist again this year, Freda Tafuna, scored two tries for the Lions and was a defensive force all day, leading Lindenwood to the win.
"We are so proud of the team for everything they put into this year," said Lindenwood Head Coach Trevor Locke. "They work so incredibly hard and to see them continually pick each other up in hard times is a true pleasure. Our staff couldn't be more thankful for to coach such a solid group of young women."
Life scored first after a wild run from wing Azhinaye Barner saw her take a couple of collisions and keep going. She was stopped short but the ball was sent smartly to the opposite wing where Harlie Kallichuk went over. Lindenwood responded after a penalty. They took a lineout inside the Life 22. The ball was tapped down to Tafuna, who set a ruck and the forwards worked their way closer. Finally Tafuna herself picked up and found a tiny bit of space to score. The No. 8 converted, as well, for a 7-5 Lindenwood.
That lead would hold up through to halftime in a hard-hitting contest where neither team was giving up much on defense.
Coming out of the break Lindenwood went on the attack, and looked very threatening. The Life defense held, however, and when they forced a scrum, Leila Opeti (moved to No. 8 from flanker) picked up and was off for a 40-meter jaunt. That put Life on the front foot and once again they got close to the line before shifting the ball quickly to the wing, where Kallichuck logged her second. That made it 10-7 Life.
But Tafuna's try and successful conversion put the Lions up 7-5 at the 15 minute mark. Both teams traded possession by utilizing the kicking game to battle for field position and despite both teams being inside the other teams 22 meter line multiple times, the score stayed 7-5 at the half.
The halftime break provided some momentum for Life as they quickly scored a try on the outside to take a 10-7 lead at the 45 minute mark. On the ensuing possession Lindenwood was called for a yellow-card and played the next 10 minutes shorthanded.
Off the restart, Lindenwood flanker He'lena Dou'ble was penalized for a high tackle that was eventually deemed worth of a yellow card. Shorthanded, Lindenwood handled the pressure that Life brought and in fact it was Lindenwood that found some space. A scything run from center Makenna Bailey and offload to Tafuna got them within inches of the line. But Life got out of it.
Back came the Lions. After running a fairly innocuous series of phases where it didn't seem like much was going to happen, they broke through. Tafuna picked up and Life was a bit slow to fill that B channel off the ruck—off the capped Eagle went, fending off a tackler with her left, then a tackler with her right, before crashing over with fullback Bella Vogel clinging desperately to her legs. Tafuna converted and Lindenwood had the lead 14-10.
The Lions received the restart but lost the ball in contact and the Running Eagles capitalized immediately. Flyhalf Emerson Calligari sniped around th weak side, found center Liberty Benitez, and she fed Barner on the wing for yet another try in the corner.
Life 15, Lindenwood 14 with about 18 minutes left.
It was perhaps too much to ask for the game to end in end-to-end play. Instead the hits kept coming and so did the scrums. Lindenwood decided to dance with the one who brought them to the dance and sent Tafuna into the fray. But the bench made key contributions: Lola Unga and Makena Yaumoepeau were critical to getting Lindenwood into the Life 22.
And with Life's defense sucked in, Lindenwood went wide; a superb pass from fullback Maddy Jersey put another reserve, Nevaeh Elliott, way to run to the corner.
About 12 minutes remained in the game, but the Lindenwood players celebrated like that was the clincher. It turned out to be at 19-15. Unga made a key tackle on the edge and later on Tafuna made a key poach at the tackle about five meters from her own tryline. Life had several penalties in the Lindenwood 22, but couldn't quite finish. Vogel set up Barner, but Lindenwood's Jersey came shooting into the line to hunt Barner down.
With time ticking away Amy Brice dummied past two Life players and took off for about 40 meters before offloading to Jersey. The fullback looked to be away but somehow, heroically, Life lock Madelyn jennig swooped in to tackle her. No fourth try for Lindenwood, but Life was now backed up, and time was not their friend.
Lindenwood finally dragged a maul into touch and that was it.
It was a thrilling game, entertaining and and well-played. One wonders if we will see it again, and what the future holds for D1A with Central Washington's funding gone and Lindenwood moving to NIRA. But this is women's college rugby at as high a level as you'd want to see.
Lindenwood 19
Tries: Tafuna 2, Ellliott
Convs: Tafuna 2
Life 15
Tries: Kallichuk 2, Barner
