The Lions claimed their second straight title at the Collegiate Rugby Championships (CRC 7's) with a 21-12 win over Life University Sunday afternoon at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia.
After a miscue on the opening kickoff, Lindenwood played great defense which led to possession and a
Wesley White try in the third minute.
Cristian Rodriguez slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead. More solid defense gave the Lions the ball again and moments later,
Marnus Spangenberg galloped for an 80-meter score. Another conversion from Rodriguez extended the Lindenwood advantage to 14-0. It looked like the Lions were in a position to run away with the game, but an illegal tackle gave the Running Eagles a man-advantage in the final minute of the first half. They wasted little time in cutting the deficit to 14-5 at the break, and scored again in the first minute of the second half to make it 14-12 and anyone's contest. With pressure mounting on both squads, the next four minutes ticked away without any points. Lindenwood broke the drought with another run from White, followed by a
Reece Botha conversion to provide some breathing room at 21-12, but the Running Eagles were still within striking distance with just under two minutes remaining. Life was driving for a potential try and restart opportunity, but the Lions forced a turnover to seal the victory.
Lindenwood advanced to the finals with a 30-12 win over Kutztown University in the semifinals earlier on Sunday. It took just two minutes for the Lions to put points on the board with a run to the zone from White. The advantage was increased by
Tyren Al-Jiboori, who went back-to-back for a 17-0 lead. The Golden Bears broke the shutout, but Lindenwood answered with a 99-meter drive, capped by
Lorenzo Thomas. Al-Jiboori completed a hat trick to put the Lions in great position to play defense and run out the clock, which they did. A last second try and conversion from Kutztown set up the final margin.
Lindenwood began the knock-out stage with a 19-7 win against Iona in the quarterfinals. The Gaels took a 7-0 lead midway through the first half and kept the Lions at bay until the break, but a yellow card on Iona provided an opening for Lindenwood, which was fully used. Samuel Chapman scored a converted try to knot the score at seven, and Rodriguez followed to make it 12-7 for the Lions. White dotted down in the final minute and Botha booted the conversion to close out the contest.
Lindenwood posted a perfect 3-0 record in pool play on Saturday, beginning with a 38-0 shutout of Temple.
Evan Williams led the Lions with 15 points on a hat trick of tries.
The Lions were tested in the second game, but outlasted Clemson 24-17. White dashed into the left corner of the zone in the first 25 seconds to give Lindenwood a 5-0 lead, but the Tigers answered with a converted score of their own. White struck again in the sixth minute and the conversion put the Lions ahead 12-7, but Clemson responded once again and the match went to halftime tied at 12. Lindenwood began the second half quickly with tries from De Waal and
Nick Taylor, and a conversion from Rodriguez to give the Lions a 24-12 advantage, but the Tigers battled back with five points and had possession as time expired, but the final drive was thwarted by Lindenwood.
The Lions wrapped up pool play with a 32-5 victory over Virginia Tech. After an evenly played first five minutes, Lindenwood finally broke through with a try from Thomas. The Hokies leveled the score in the final moments of the first half, but
Jack Desmond still had time to give the Lions a 12-5 lead at the break. It was all Lindenwood in the second half with tries from Thomas, White, Chapman, and Williams.
With the Collegiate Rugby Championship title, the Lions completed a sweep of the two sevens championships for the second straight year. Lindenwood won the USA Rugby Men's D1A Collegiate Sevens Championship a week ago with a 36-0 victory over American International College, and won both sevens titles in 2018 as well.
