Two Shutouts Highlight D1 Elite Weekend
Two Shutouts Highlight D1 Elite Weekend
The D1 Elite women's slate of games this past weekend resulted in two shutouts.
For Central Washington, the Wildcats defeated Grand Canyon 79-0 in Phoenix. Meanwhile, defending champions Lindenwood looked very impressive in a 27-0 defeat of longtime rivals Life University at Lindenwood's campus.
The Lindenwood game was scoreless for the first 20 minutes as both teams tested each other out and looked to find opportunities. Finally, Irie Farley cut through for a 20-meter run to score the first try of the day to make it 7-0. Moments later Ahnea Aupiu set up veteran Demi Allen, who beat several defenders to race in. Lindenwood now led 12-0 at 27 minutes.
As halftime approached Lindenwood co-captain Amy Brice put the hammer down with two tries, breaking free through four defenders to go 50 meters, and then capped off a good period of continuity started by Longosai Tausinga and ended with another long break from midfield.
Lindenwood held a 22-0 lead at that point and 13 minutes into the second half Jet Metz kicked the ball over the Life defense, and the ball was chased down by Brice, who sent it to Aifili Tuitau and through her to Madison Jersey out wide for a well-taken team try. That made it 27-0 and that's how it finished.
For Lindenwood, this was an excellent showing against one of the strongest teams in D1 Elite, while for Life, which had opened the D1 Elite season 2-0, it was a reminder that there remain mountains to climb.
Next up for Life is Grand Canyon on November 4. For Lindenwood, they travel to Washington to play CWU this coming weekend.
So it was fitting that both GCU and CWU played over the weekend. Central controlled the game in what is a new level of competition for Grand Canyon.
"The team put in a complete performance," CWU Head Women's Rugby Coach Matt Ramirez said. "Our finishes came in and upped the pace which is exactly what we asked of them."
Winnie Namosimalua, Tessa Hann, and Lilly Thomas all scored a pair of tries as ten different Wildcats touched down.
Kai Brandt-Templeton logged 19 points on a try and seven conversions.
"It was a great reward after an intense week of prep," Ramirez said. "Recovery is the name of the game now."
Before they take on Llife, the GCU 'Lopes will face BYU this coming Saturday in Provo, Utah.
Also in action over the weekend, D1 Elite team Penn State defeated NIRA team West Point 26-19.
| D1 Elite | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Life | 2 | 1 | 0 | 112 | 45 | 67 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Central Washington | 2 | 1 | 0 | 106 | 63 | 43 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Lindenwood | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| BYU | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Penn State | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 71 | -58 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Canyon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 79 | -79 | 0 | 0 | 0 |