Women's rugby faced a very physical style, but was able to defeat the Glendale Merlins Women's Premier League team 29-17 Saturday evening at Infinity Park Stadium in Glendale, Colorado. 

The two squads essentially traded scoring opportunities in closely contested first half that left Lindenwood with a slim 21-17 advantage at halftime, but stout defensive play from Lions kept the Merlins off the board in the second half while they adding eight points of their own.  Teammate selected player awards included Caring De Freitas as Back of the Match, Joyce Taufa as Forward of the Match and Sativa Tarau-Peehikuru for the Hit Stick.  Morgan Freeman was also a stand-out in her first freshman start.

Earlier in the day, the Lions second side faced the Glendale D1 squad at the nearby Cook Park Fields and earned a 37-26 victory.  The match featured several talented new freshmen along with a solid core of veteran leaders that kept the Lions calm and cool during a high scoring affair.  Lindenwood showed strong power on offense, but will need to firm up the defense moving forward.  Alicia Barry was selected as the Back of the Match, Selena Tuilaepa as Forward of the Match, and the Hit Stick went to Nohea Uluave.  Freshman Kiarah Mosley also scored a hat trick of tries in her first collegiate match. 

Head Coach Billy Nicholas was pleased with the efforts, but noted some room for improvement.

"We saw a lot of great things today in our first match, but have some work to do on the defensive side of the game and in our second match, we need to bring just a bit more control and patience into our attack," he said.  "We are gracious to Glendale for hosting us each year and providing an opportunity for our program to get a great double-header of competitive matches during our trip.  

"I'm really happy with the end result from the past two weeks.  We have had three great matches so far and it's great to have such good competition. Coming away with wins is a bonus, but we have some work to do to become the best version of what our team can be."

With the wins, Lindenwood is 3-0 on the season.  The Lions will host two matches over the coming weekend.  The Kansas City Jazz come to town for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff September 29 at the Lindenwood Track & Rugby Complex and the St. Louis Sabres visit September 30 at 1 p.m.