Men’s rugby advanced to the USA Rugby Division 1-AA Final Four with two convincing wins April 27 and 28 in Madison, Wisc.  The Lions shutout Northern Illinois 60-0 on Saturday and followed with a 55-24 win against Bowling Green State (BGSU) on Sunday.

In the first contest against the Huskies, Lindenwood ran out to a quick 40-0 lead at halftime on the strength of first half tries from six different Lions including Matt Wirken, Kolton Nelson, Mathius Harris, Gabe Farley, Morgan Findlay and Tyler Black.  Findlay and Farley scored again for Lindenwood in the second half, along with Nicholas Markowski and Austin Tijerina, and the defense kept Northern Illinois out of the try zone, but there was a cost.  In an extremely physical game, three Lions ended up in the hospital for a variety of ailments.  Tijerina needed stitches, Maanihera Kapa suffered a concussion, and Christopher Reed fell victim to a broken foot.

The round of eight game against BGSU was very close in the first half as the Falcons used their size and athleticism to play even with Lindenwood, but the Lions were able to use their team speed and attack structure to spread out the BGSU defense, eventually leading to five tries and a 34-10 advantage at the break.  Harris, Farley, Findlay, Jake O’Neill, and Cody Schwahn accounted for the scoring in the first half.  In the first few minutes of the second half, Harris sprinted in from 50 meters to put Lindenwood up 41-10, but the Falcons mounted a comeback with two unanswered tries to pull within 17 points.  The Lions answered right back as Black crossed the line for a score and then Findlay finished the day by ripping 70 meters through the heart of the defense before off-loading to Brad Foster who finished the try.

In addition to those that scored for Lindenwood, Trevor Locke and Colin Bartolomeo also performed well on the weekend.  The Lions each wore the initials MRB in honor of fallen teammate Michael Black.

By advancing to the Division 1-AA Final Four, Lindenwood made history by making it to a national semifinal in the first two seasons of existence, something that no other program in USA Rugby had done before. 

The Lions get a weekend off before they travel to Bowling Green, Ohio to face Western Washington University in the semifinals.  The Vikings advanced to the Final Four by defeating Chico State 47-19 in the round of 16 and by stopping Long Beach State 39-26 in the round of eight.  If Lindenwood can beat Western Washington, they would face the winner of the Dartmouth versus Central Florida game for the Division 1-AA National Championship.  The opening kickoff for the Lions and Vikings is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 11 at Cochrane Stadium on the BGSU campus.  Both semifinals and the finals will all be streamed live via USA Rugby TV.