After the Lady Lions won their first ever 15's title two weeks earlier, they accomplished a difficult feat by also claiming the USA Rugby Collegiate Sevens Championship with a 20-0 win over Penn State May 20 at Infinity Stadium in Glendale, Colorado.  Sophomore Caring De Freitas was named the Most Valuable Player for her standout performance during the tournament. 

Lindenwood controlled the championship match from the beginning.  Nika Paogofie-Buyten scored what would prove to be the game-winning try in the fourth minute to give the Lady Lions a 5-0 lead.  Kodi Barlow dotted down in the sixth minute and Lindenwood carried a 10-0 advantage into the second half.  Ariana Lewis added a try in the ninth minute and Sativa Tarau-Peehikuru finished off the match in the 12^th minute.

The Lady Lions advanced to the Cup finals with a come-from-behind 17-14 win over Life University in the semifinals.  The Running Eagles took an early 7-0 lead in the fourth minute, but Lindenwood answered with tries from McKenzie Hawkins in the sixth minute and De Freitas in the seventh minute for a 10-7 advantage at the break.  Life retook a 14-10 lead in the 11^th minute with a try and conversion and it appeared that the tournament might be over for the Lady Lions, but pinned in their own 22-meter zone with just a minute left, a key penalty lead to some skillful ball movement.  Barlow ended up with possession and scored the game-winner.  McKenzie Hawkins booted the conversion for the final margin. 

Lindenwood faced some hurdles in pool play on Saturday, going 2-1 in three matches.  The Lady Lions started with a 17-7 victory over Central Washington, scoring the first three tries of the contest to open up a 17-0 lead before the Wildcats broke the shutout late.  Lindenwood suffered a 17-12 loss to the Nittany Lions in game two.  After falling behind 5-0, the Lady Lions responded with a try to conversion to go ahead 7-5, but Penn State scored the next 12 points for a 17-7 advantage.  Lindenwood added a try late, but it was not enough.  After the defeat, the Lady Lions spent quite a bit of time breaking down video footage and developing new motivation for the final pool play game against Dartmouth.  It paid off with a solid 34-7 win over the Big Green.  Lindenwood scored first and added a conversion in the second minute before Dartmouth tied the match 7-7, but the Lady Lions posted the next 27 points to pull away.

Despite the loss in pool play, Lindenwood still accumulated seven points, which was good enough to advance to the Cup semifinals.  The Lady Lions went the rest of the way unscathed.  

Head Coach Billy Nicholas assessed the challenges of the weekend.

"The first two matches of the tournament, we were finding our rhythm," he said.  "The last three matches, we did a much better job of working together as a team with support in attack and defense.  This team has the ability to continue to get better, yet we are still excited about the results this month with two national titles in two weeks and look forward to continued opportunities to grow and challenge ourselves."

That next challenge will come at the Collegiate Sevens Rugby Championship (CRC 7's) June 2-3 at Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It will be the fourth straight year that the Lady Lions have competed at the event.  Last season, Lindenwood advanced to the Cup finals, but fell to Life University 17-12.