Men's rugby ended its regular season with a tough 26-7 loss to Davenport Saturday afternoon in Grand Rapids, Mich. 
 
After a scoreless game the first 18 minutes, the Panthers put the first try on the board to go ahead 5-0.  They scored again and added the conversion five minutes later and opened up a 17 point margin in the 27^th minute.  Lindenwood finally broke the shutout on a surging run from Sebastian Kalm, but trailed 17-7 at the break.
 
The Lions continued to work in the second half.  A drive down the field was helped by a great kick from Mickey Bateman and Chris Reed made a dominant hit to force the ball loose and put Lindenwood on another attack, but Davenport had an answer every time.  Ultimately, the only additional points came on three penalty kicks from the Panthers.
 
With the loss, the Lions dropped to 7-5-1 overall and finished 1-3 in the Mid-South Conference, good for third place based on tiebreakers in the three-team league.  Lindenwood heads into the USA Rugby D1A Playoffs next weekend.  The specific assignments and locations for first round games are yet to be announced.