Men's rugby finished second at the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (UHSP) Prescription Sevens Tournament April 6 in St. Louis. The Lions won four games before falling to Indiana 38-5 in the championship match.
 
How it Happened:
Lindenwood was placed in Group D for pool play with Trine University and the Southern Nazarene 2 squad.
 
In the first match against the Thunder Saturday morning, the Lions started strong, but a couple of mistakes led to tries by the opposition. Riley Richardson-Mould began his impactful tournament while Hassan Lin was perfect in front of the posts on conversions. In the end, Lindenwood was able to grind out a 21-14 victory.
 
For their second match of the day against Southern Nazarene 2, the Lions made some adjustments to their line up and the results were impactful. They posted a shutout 35-0 in a dominant display against the Crimson Storm by placing a focus on shifting their attack from side-line to side-line, which resulted in great, free-flowing rugby. John Kenaga and Aiden Kalmar highlighted the strong performance, which gave Lindenwood a 2-0 mark at the conclusion of pool play.
 
In the first knockout stage round, the Lions faced tournament host UHSP. They continued the momentum developed in the first two games to defeat the Eutectics 26-10.
 
Drury University awaited Lindenwood in the semifinals. Forward Guillermo Bilbao made his presence known with a couple of turnovers that led to tries for Richardson-Mould and Karsten Rice. With another convincing win 26-7 over the Panthers, the Lions punched their ticket to the tournament final against six-time Big 10 Conference Champions Indiana University.
 
The Final:
The Lions competed well early as the first couple minutes of game action was highlighted by great defense from both sides, but halfway through the first seven minutes, the game was turned on its head when the Hoosiers raced away with a line break from their own 22. They kicked the conversion and then immediately scored again off the next restart. For the rest of the match, the Lindenwood was unable to keep up as Indiana ran away to a 38-5 tournament victory.
 
The final score in the championship was not reflective of the way the Lions squad played across the whole tournament as the young group has showed progression and an ability to represent well in a tournament setting across the whole season.
 
The Lindenwood sevens squad was managed by Nick Hardrict, II and Ike Wrigley who have both been sidelined due to injury this season.
 
Nick Hardrict, II Quote:
"I think it was a great learning experience for the boys. Tough loss in the final against a good team, but I was very impressed with how they played, and they showed a lot of potential for the future."
 
Scores:
Lindenwood 21-14 Trine
Lindenwood 35-0 Southern Nazarene 2
Lindenwood 26-10 UHSP
Lindenwood 26-7 Drury
Lindenwood 5-38 Indiana University
 
Roster:

1. Hassan Lin
2. Guillermo Bilbao
3. Riley Richardson-Mould
4. Charlie Kirkpatrick
5. Karsten Rice
6. Gavin Richards
7. Marcus Robinson
8. Nicholas Orefice
9. Aiden Kalmar
10. Gage Poland
11. Jack Cahill
12. Gavin Fitzhugh
13. John Kenaga
14. Emilio Carranza