Men's rugby traveled to Louisiana to face the New Orleans Men's Club and Louisiana State University (LSU) and came away with two hard-fought 15's victories February 7-8 in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, La.

In the first game of the weekend against New Orleans on Saturday, the Lions fell behind and were held scoreless until the 48^th minute.  Tamatasi Paogofie-Buyten tried to spark the team in the first half with a crunching tackle, but his efforts were initially unrewarded.  Lindenwood trailed 18-0 at the break.

New Orleans extended its lead in the 43^rd minute to build a 25-0 advantage.  The Lions began a furious comeback when Paogofie-Buyten scored a try five minutes later.  Patrick Mulligan added the conversion to make it 25-7.  Lucas Bersin was next to cross the line for Lindenwood in the 53^rd minute to close the gap to just 11.  After 12 more minutes of time had elapsed, the Lions cut the lead to single digits when Paogofie took an off-load from Gabe Farley to notch his second try of the game.  With 15 minutes remaining, Lindenwood needed to keep New Orleans from scoring while finding a way to get a lead-changing try.  That's exactly what happened as Michael Desouto crossed the line in the 78^th minute to help secure a 26-25 win for the Lions.   

With one victory secured, Lindenwood faced LSU on Sunday.  Unlike the day before, the Lions scored first with a penalty kick from Mulligan in the fourth minute.  That 3-0 lead was stretched to 10-0 after Wes Parker scored just four minutes later.  The Tigers managed a penalty kick of their own, but Mulligan responded for Lindenwood with a try under the sticks for a 17-3 lead.  Bersin was the next Lion to help the offense when he darted past the LSU defense with some hard running to stretch the advantage further.  The Tigers scored next, but Lindenwood still took a 24-10 lead into the break.

While the first half was highlighted by offense, the second half was more defensively oriented.  The Lions held LSU in check while crossing the line twice, the last coming from Taylor Hawker in the final five minutes to give Lindenwood a 38-10 win. 

In addition to the two 15's games, the Lions also played two 7's contests against each opponent, and managed to win all four, giving Lindenwood a sweep on the trip.

The Lions are back in action quickly as they travel to Las Vegas February 12-14 for the Las Vegas Invitational, which is also a CRC Qualfier.  Competition begins at 9 a.m. Thursday.