The Lions duplicated their efforts from last season by repeating as the Arkansas 15's Tournament victors November 10-11 in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The Lindenwood second XV posted wins of 59-0 against the University of Memphis and 58-0 against Pittsburgh State on Saturday before claiming the trophy with a 44-0 shutout of the St. Louis Sabres on Sunday.

In the first match against the Tigers on Saturday, the Lions focused on their basics first before opening up the playbook.  The result was a 34-0 lead at halftime.  Lindenwood continued its defensive pressure in the second half and added another 25 points for the final margin.  Fullback Alicia Barry, wing Amanda Lenau, and fly-half Amy Watkins each scored two tries. Scrum half Haylee Thull dotted down once and added a couple of conversions, while Paulina Las, Imogen Davies, Madison Deaton, and Whitley Cary each entered the try zone once.

Expecting a completely different style of play against the Gorillas, the Lions made adjustments to the defense around the ruck area as it proved to be a forward heavy contest.  Once the defensive flow was established, Lindenwood controlled possession and built a 29-0 advantage by halftime.  The second half was played well by both sides, but the Lions maintained the advantage as explained by McKenna Deemer.

"The biggest difference was the second half as we kept the ball in rucks and really focused on ball security to be able to give our scrum half a clean ball to pass out since they had strong forwards," she said.  "Once we did that, we all felt more confident on attack."  

Davies, Barry, and Natalie Hernandez each dotted down twice. Kate Yeomans, Aiyanna Primer, Amy Spafford, and Teague Sullivan added single tries, and Thull booted four conversions in the game.  

The two wins on Saturday set up a Sunday tournament championship match against the St. Louis Sabres, a squad that had beaten the Lions second XV earlier in the season.  Weather conditions improved a bit, giving Lindenwood an opportunity to spread the ball out wide and vary the attacking structure of the offense.  Hunting and hitting those outside channels proved successful and allowed the Lions to build a 27-0 halftime lead.  Lindenwood kept a quick pace in the second half, despite some deteriorating field conditions, and carried momentum through the rest of the match.  Tries came from Davies, Cary, Deemer, Amanda Lenau, Hernandez, Spafford, and Barry, and Thull slotted two conversions.

The next action for the Lions will be the first XV against STARS 15's November 18.  The opening kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Missouri.